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Internet Marketing Required to Fuel Economic Recovery- Part I
Posted by Louis Del Monte on 3/23/09 •
Part 1: The Current Reality
At this point, almost everyone is being affected by the worst recession since the great
depression. Both small and large businesses alike are scrambling to cut losses and find a
way back to profitability.
There is wide agreement that advertising is the lifeblood of business. Yet, advertising
itself is going through a major metamorphosis. Let’s just look at two key factors:
• Total advertising spend
• Shifts in advertising spend to other media, such as the Internet & mobile devices
First, let’s consider total advertising spend.
Forecasted total advertizing spend for 2009, according to the 2008 Starcom MediaVest
Group’s Annual Media Futures Report, is predicted to decrease a record 2.4 percent.
This is the largest year-over-year decrease ever predicted. In my opinion, this forecast
may even be optimistic. For example, Morgan Stanley Research recently published its
analysis of U.S. Ad Spend versus the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). From its data, if
the GDP year-over-year growth is flat (2009/2008) the ad spend could decline 4%.
Couple this with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s forecast that the economy won’t see even a
moderate recovery until 2010 and a gloomy picture emerges.
Second, let’s consider shifts in advertising spend to other media.
Almost every forecast is predicting advertising expenditures to decrease in traditional
media, including print, radio, and television, and migrate to the Internet. In fact, almost
six out of ten national advertisers polled indicated they intended to increase their Internet
budget in 2009. For example, according to Advertising Age, February 21, 2009, GM’s
117-page plan included a statement that the company “will continue to lead the industry
in digital and search–marketing capability.” They also quoted a GM spokeswoman’s
elaboration, “You’ll continue to see more digital and social media activation as integral
parts of our advertising and marketing efforts, because it’s cost-effective, efficient and
allows for deeper customer engagement on their terms.” GM is not alone in their drive to
the Internet. In the same article, Ad Age quoted a Chrysler spokeswoman, “We are
focused on our Interactive lead strategy. We increased our leads from 270,000 in 2007 to
605,000 in 2008 … We made it easier for customers to submit a request for information
on our own Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge site…”
The current reality is that Internet marketing, advertising, and public relations is out
performing their traditional counterparts. However, there are numerous Internet
marketing, advertising, and public relations campaign methodologies. This begs a key
question: What is the right Internet Marketing Plan for my business?
I will address this question in my next post: Part 2: The Internet Marketing Plan, which
will post on April 6, 2009.
www.iblogmarketing.com
Social Media Marketing Critical To Business Success - Part I
Posted by Louis Del Monte on 4/20/09 •
Part 1: What is Social Media Marketing?
There is an old saying: “If you live long enough, what’s old becomes new again!” That
saying generally referred to fashions, but it is also becoming true of Social Media
Marketing.
Most businesses back in the 1950’s relied heavily on “word of mouth”. Of course, there
were also several significant advertising mediums available, such as newspaper, radio,
direct mail, and the new embryonic media called television. However, “word of month”
played a significant role and for some businesses was their life blood.
In today’s high-tech world, “word of mouth” still plays a significant role.
Let’s look at some recent statistics:
• Recommendations from family and friends totally outweigh other consumer touchpoints when it comes to influencing purchases (ZenithOptimedia, AdAge, April, 2008)
• 86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend’s recommendation over a review by
a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (Marketing Sherpa,
July 2007)
• Consumers say that word of mouth is still the number one influencer in their apparel
(34.3%) and electronics (44.4%) purchases (Retail Advertising and Marketing
Association/BIGresearch Study, November 2008)
• According to a global Nielsen survey of 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets, consumer
recommendations are the most credible form of advertising among 78% of the study’s
respondents. (Nielsen, “Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool”, October 2007)
Undeniably, on the Internet, “word of mouth” has become “word of mouse” and a critical
element in influencing the decisions people make. For example, comScore and the
Kelsey Group reported that reviews generated by fellow consumers on Internet shopping
sites had a greater influence than those generated by professionals (comScore/The Kelsey
Group, October 2007).
What does “word of mouth” have to do with Social Media Marketing?
Actually, it has everything to do with Social Media Marketing. Just consider the results
of JupiterResearch. Online social network users were three times more likely to trust
their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions. (”Social
Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape,”
JupiterResearch, March 2007).
What is Social Media Marketing?
From my view point, Social Medial Marketing is a form of Internet marketing which
seeks to achieve branding, marketing communication, and sales through:
• Participation in social media sites – such as Facebook, MySpace, Classmates.com,
YouTube, Flickr, iBlogBusiness, iBizRadio, LinkedIn, and Digg
• Utilization of social media – such as blogs, micro-blogs (like Twitter), audio/video
media & podcasts, and public bookmarks
Now, we are ready to address the key question: Why is Social Media Marketing critical
to business success? Stay tuned for Part 2, which addresses this question.
www.iblogmarketing.com
Podcasts Yield High Return on Investment for
Businesses – Part I
Posted by Louis Del Monte on 5/11/09 •
Part 1: Whar are business podcasts?
Podcasts have become one of the fastest growing media of all time. According to
eMarketer.com, February 2009, almost 22 million U.S. Internet users are listening to
podcasts. eMarketer.com is forecasting the number of U.S. listeners to nearly double by
2013. For those of you that are new to podcasting let me explain what podcasting is and
why it has become so popular.
Podcast Basics
In general, podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio
programs or music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal
computers. In the recent past, a “mobile” device meant owning an iPod or a laptop
computer. Today, almost every “smart” mobile phone being sold is capable of
downloading podcasts for future playback.
So what does this all have to do with business? In a word: Everything! Podcasting gives
businesses a new and highly effective way to communicate with their target market. By
using podcasts, a business can provide their target market (i.e. the listeners/viewers) the
convenience to listen to or view the “show” when they want, where they want, and how
they want. Let’s just look at few of the ways businesses can use podcasts.
Sponsorship - First, a business can sponsor a popular podcast, similar to a sponsored
‘old-time’ radio show. For example, this could be a pre-roll commercial (i.e. before the
podcast starts), or be mentioned by the podcaster during the podcast (i.e. a testimonial),
or a post-roll commercial (i.e. at the end of the podcast). These types of commercials
have been the bread-and-butter of terrestrial radio since its inception and easily translate
to podcasts, which is often described as “time shifted radio”.
PodfomercialSM - Another way businesses can use podcasts is by providing content and
essentially creating a podfomercialSM (i.e. podcast infomercial). This is the format used
on our weekly podcast Internet radio program, Radiospectives
(www.radiospectives.com). Our methodology is a simple one. We interview some of the
nation’s top business and community leaders, subject-matter experts, and people in the
news who bring you into their circle of expertise and give you the inside scoop on the
important topics in business today. This is win-win! The listener gets valuable business
information and insight. The interviewees get valuable exposure. For those of you that
haven’t visited Radiospectives, let me invite you to do so. It will not only give you a
good feel for this type of business promotion, but I also think you will find the content
highly resourceful. The Radiospectives 2009 podcast schedule is currently focusing on
businesses surviving and thriving in a tough economy, going green, and using Internet
Web 2.0 technologies to get a leg-up on the competition.
Business can also use podcasts to document corporate events, such as a stockholders
meeting or a grand opening. In fact, they can be used for any type of business
communication, internally or externally.
Now that we’ve covered what podcasts are, their amazing popularity, and some of the
ways businesses can use them, let’s address the real question. Will a business get a return
on investment using podcasts? I’ll address this question in our next post, Part 2: How
can businesses monetize podcasts? Stay tuned!
www.iblogmarketing.com