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E-mail marketing beats direct mail in UK

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The use of e-mail marketing has finally overtaken for the first time the popular direct mails in the UK, based on a new report by Direct Marketing Association’s Email Marketing Council.

According to DMNews:

According to the report, 100 percent of respondents believe that volumes will continue to grow by about one third. Forty-two percent of respondents believe that the success of e-mail marketing campaigns is due to targeting, while 33 percent attribute it to the product offering and 25 percent attribute e-mail’s success to good creative.

It is very apparent why e-mail marketing is gaining grounds in the field of direct marketing – speed and low cost. With almost all direct marketing companies resorting to e-mail marketing, this significantly intensifies the level of competition and may not be a profitable alternative for many players over the long haul.

Originally posted on August 21, 2007 @ 11:56 pm

AdGooroo launches AdGooroo Express for small search advertisers

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adgooroo.jpgAdGooroo, provider of search engine marketing competitive intelligence and keyword tools, unveiled AdGooroo Express, making its actionable search insights available to the smallest of Google advertisers for the first time. During its beta phase, the tool will be offered free to all interested advertisers.

Built with the small advertiser in mind, AdGooroo Express provides: Integration with AdWords campaign data; Identification of 35 common problems, with daily tests to ensure campaigns stay on track; Lists of competitors’ top keywords; Recommendations for correcting campaign inefficiencies; Trend identification, based on continual campaign data analysis; Automatic monitoring of organic search rankings; A 30-day historical data archive; Customer support, including email, live chat and other support; and A low price point, starting at just $83/month.

“Fifty percent of search marketers manage campaigns with fewer than 200 keywords, and they’re competing in search’s dynamic auction marketplace against some of the most sophisticated advertisers on the planet,” said AdGooroo President Richard Stokes. “AdGooroo Express provides several advanced tools and enables these small but very busy advertisers to quickly fine tune their paid and natural search efforts, ratchet up their ROI, and ensure their search investment is spent as effectively as possible.”

Originally posted on August 21, 2007 @ 11:05 pm

Universal McCann survey shows mobile advertising turns users off

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While mobile startups and networks are fast proliferating, a new study made by communications company Universal McCann shows that advertising on mobile Internet is a turn off to about 61% mobile users.

Tom Smith, Universal McCann’s research manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, stated that people often get irritated when being interrupted, and that this applies to traditional media as well. Hence, if consumers don’t like the content that’s being fed to them, they go elsewhere.

Even more interesting is that, in a sample of 9,500 mobile users in 21 countries, 71% would opt to shell out money on licensed music, videos and games, instead on those social network functionalities (podcasts, shared photos, and other user-generated content).

I’m gonna have to agree — given this study, social networks might have to rethink of other ways to monetize their mobile services.

Via MocoNews.

Originally posted on August 17, 2007 @ 4:11 am

Microsoft acquires digital marketing firm aQuantive at $6 billion

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AQuantiveIn its largest acquisition by far, Microsoft closes its purchase of aQuantive at $6 billion to kick off its goal to compete with Google and Yahoo in the online advertising realm.

aQuantive, a digital marketing company based in Seattle, has been known for its ad services and technologies through its individual operations such as Avenue A, Razorfish, Atlas and DrivePM, among others. With aQuantive, Microsoft hopes to create an advertising platform for advertisers, and publishers, that will match Google’s and Yahoo’s.

“Today we take a significant step forward in our ability to capture share of the $40 billion online ad opportunity and the larger $600 billion ad market, which is rapidly shifting to the world of online and IP-served platforms, including TV and gaming,” Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division, said. “The addition of aQuantive’s technologies and people to the Microsoft portfolio is a core, strategic investment and step forward in our plans to become one of the top two online advertising platforms in the industry.”

This seemingly ambitious move by Microsoft could alter the online marketing industry altogether, with their goal to be “number one or number two,” as Johnson further stated. Google and Yahoo’s online advertising platform has been going on for years. As far as trampling one or both of these two web giants is concerned, you can tell that Microsoft is dead serious with the amount it spared on the acquisition as well as its investment on building up a leadership team that will hopefully take them to the top.

Originally posted on August 14, 2007 @ 1:30 am

Blogs and online groups key to reach Gen Y shoppers

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maritzpoll_logo.jpgThe youth market often dubbed as Generation Y or Millenial group is one of the hottest market segments today, luring many retailers to pump more investments here. In the new Maritz Poll, a national consumer opinion survey conducted periodically by Maritz Research, has revealed that this segment is more responsive to online groups and blogs compared against SMS or text message.

About 48 percent of Generation Y respondents said they belong to an online group hosted by a retailer and 21 percent have used blogs as a resource on purchasing decisions. Even though the market is sending about 17 text messages per day, about 65% would definitely not subscribe to offers solicited via cell phone or PDA

“Because peer opinions are extremely important to Generation Y, they’re likely to take online reviews posted by their peers to heart. Retailers should also pay close attention to blogs and online reviews mentioning their products and brand and consider fixing problems that repeatedly come up. Retailers need to show Gen Y they are listening,” said Gloria Park Bartolone, division vice president, Maritz Research’s Retail Group

On the other hand, another study shows that college students are now more interested in mobile advertisements. I think there will be more changes in mobile advertising that can affect this current survey.

Originally posted on August 10, 2007 @ 12:00 am