Do successful online offers break a cardinal direct mail rule?
Choice: online, more is better. Or so discovered the head of digital marketing for a major consumer publishing megabrand (who sadly cannot be identified). This flies in the face of one of the cardinal Rules of Direct Mail: one offer, one call-to-action.
Our publisher has been working on online offers, both on the site, in search and in email, to boost the print subscriber base of a wide variety of magazines. Time after time, the more choices offered to consumers for subscribing, the higher the conversion rate.
Microhoo: WWUD? (what will users do?)
So they finally did it. The months of will-they-or-won't-they dissolved into years before Microsoft and Yahoo finally forged a marriage, of sorts. Reams are being written about what the deal means for advertisers, for investors and for the companies themselves. Really, though, it all boils down to one question: what will users do?
Let's say they do create a search engine that's better than Google - way better than Google. Will it matter? Will users use it?
Can the Grey Lady sell display ads to hyperlocal businesses?
Hard to argue with a $5 CPM for advertising on a New York Times property, even if the ad run on its portfolio of hyperlocal properties. But what do the butcher, baker or candlestick maker know from CPMs?
The Times just announced on The Local, its clutch of microregional, citizen-journalism blogger sites, that it plans to make display advertising easy, self-service, and cheap. It's inviting nieghborhood dry cleaners and hardware merchants to design, post, and allocate a capped budget to ad campaigns targeted to neighborhood audiences.
Case Study: How a small business more than doubled leads with local paid search
Think senior citizens aren't using the Web to research and buy products? Tim Pelton did. Tim is a sales manager for Bedco Mobility, a company that sells and services products such as wheelchair stair lifts in the Baltimore/Washington DC corridor. For close to 100 years, Bedco advertised in local newspapers and yellow pages.
But calls and leads were dropping precipitously.
Bedco has a website, but never attempted online marketing because the thinking at the company was that senior citizens just plain weren't online. Wrong. The 70-75 year old age bracket is one of the fastest-growing segments of the online population, according to the Pew Center for the Internet and American Life. In 2005, 25 percent of them used the Internet. Last year, 45 percent went online. Older surfers use the Web primarily for searches for things such as health information, e-mail, and buying products.
US judge wants web to die together with newspapers
Aren't legal judgements supposed to be based on legal precedent? Apparently not for prominent US Judge Richard Posner, whose opinions on how to save the newspaper industry are being met with slack-jawed incredulity from just about, well, everyone.
Writing on his blog, Posner posits that what's killing newspapers are links. That's right, links:
Never run out of toilet paper again
Down to one square of TP? Is the dog out of kibble, the soap in the bathroom down to a sliver, and you can't find an envelope to mail that letter or a bandage for your blister? Don't blame Alice if you can't think, plan or shop ahead.
Alice.com launched today in beta. The new commerce site sells "household essentials," those necessary staples such as soap and shampoo, tissues and detergent, pet food and aluminum foil...and doesn't charge a shipping fee. Instead, they rely on customer loyalty -- the fact that consumers need to keep buying all this stuff
C'mon. Admit it. You really want an iPhone
iPhone users are happier. Their phones are smarter. And BlackBerry users have a serious case of iPhone envy.
Research firm Crowd Science learned, in a survey conducted over the past month that iPhone have a satisfaction score of 73% with their devices, compared wtih Blackberry owners (52%) and other smartphone users (41%). Even more iPhone owners say they're loyal to the brand (82%).
Elderly and low-income homes drop phone and cable for broadband
In the midst of a severe recession, Americans are cutting their monthly bills to the bone. Landline phones and cable television are now nice-to-haves rather than must-have. But a broadband internet connection? Non-negotiable.
We've come a long way since the dial-up era, when usability best practices cautioned against using slow-to-load graphics on Web sites and in email. The Pew Internet & American Life project's Home Broadband Adoption 2009 report indicates home broadband penetration is holding steady at 54-57 percent of households, a healthy 63 percent of adult Americans. But adoption among senior citizens (65 and older) jumped from 19 percent last May to 30 percent in April of this year.
Showtime bows first Kindle marketing campaign
Well that didn't take long. Premium cable network Showtime has just brought marketing to the Kindle. Starting today, Kindle users can download the pilot episode script for its new series "Nurse Jackie," which stars former "Sopranos" star Edie Falco.
Banners on Amazon and the Kindle store will promote the free download, according to an AdAge report. Once downloaded, the script is acompanied by calls-to-action including the broadcast schedule and encouragement to view the episode trailer on Sho.com.
Q&A with Thomas A. Cohn, Venable LLP
Tom Cohn is an online advertising legal eagle. During a 17 year stint with the FTC, he was regional director for the Northeast region in the marketing practices division. He's also worked as a legal advisor to the director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Currently, Cohn is with Venable LLP's New York office, where along with legally representing clients, he also advises them on legal and practical aspects of FTC and industry regulatory compliance. His clients include some of the major players in digital advertising as well as industry trade organizations including the IAB, AAAA, AAF, and the DMA.
We caught up with Tom to ask what he sees as the burning legal issues in online advertising today. Number one on his list? The still-in-progress FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
