02.19.10
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:34 pm by Administrator
It did not look like back-to-school madness in a lot of retail stores last year.
Sales had fallen 5.1% among retailers, not including the industry giant Wal-Mart, which recently stopped releasing monthly figures. Consumers are cutting back on non-essentials, which means that traditional activities like buying new clothes for back-to-school might be put off for months or even another year, as parents try to get back their financial footing.
Teen retailers saw the hardest hit, especially clothing stores. One reason why goes like this: Because teens have often already “hit their growth spurt,” they don’t always want new clothes because they need them size-wise, but because they want something newer and “cooler.”
This may explain why the uber-fashionable and expensive stores took the hardest hits – Abercrombie & Fitch Co. dropped by 28% – while discounted name-brand merchandise available at TJ Maxx has actually seen an uptick of 2.3%.
Department stores are also having a rough time selling back-to-school clothes, supplies, dorm furniture, and the like. J.C. Penney reported a 12.3% decline and Macy’s dropped 10.7%, while Target, with cheaper alternatives to similar products, still saw a decline of 6.5%.
A correlated problem is that retailers are cutting back on their staff, which means back-to-school teens and college students are having trouble finding work. No work means no discretionary income for that new back-to-school outfit or the little extras like a better laundry basket.
For right now, buyers are making do with what they’ve got.
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02.14.10
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:03 pm by Administrator
Let’s be honest. No one really wants to go down to a car dealership and haggle face-to-face with a car dealer anymore. We can get every other product in the world online, so why not cars?
Why not cars indeed. Mostly, the haggling has been what limits car’s availability online. Buyers know they can often get a better price by speaking with the dealer and engaging in some serious negotiation, and they’re not willing to pay sticker price. The idea of buying a vehicle for its given price is laughable, yet that seemed to be the only way to buy a car online – offer a price, put it in your shopping cart, and check out.
With a new joint venture by GM and eBay, buyers can get the convenience of online shopping without losing the benefits of haggling with their dealer. The pilot program, which is currently only available in California, allows shoppers to browse through 20,000 vehicles from the state’s 250 GM dealers, does have the option to allow the consumer to buy the car for sticker price, but it also features a way to bargain with their car dealer – online.
Though used cars have been available for purchase on eBay for years, this is the first program sanctioned to sell new cars from certified dealers. Dealers are motivated to participate because it can give them access to a wider customer base than the ones who simply know the local dealership, and of course customers have a better chance of finding the deal they’re looking for with more competition.
It’s a great new way to buy a car, but the ones who might be getting the best deal are GM and eBay.
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12.10.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:38 pm by Administrator
Microsoft and Yahoo’s merger is already causing some strife among investors and advertisers who aren’t sure they like the scope of the agreement.
The two major companies joined forces with a 10-year agreement to work on their web search technology together in hopes of rivaling the far-ahead market leader Google. The advertising expertise of Yahoo and the search engine research of Microsoft should make a fairly potent – if not game-ending – combination, but others are skeptical.
Investor shares dropped 12%, showing the disappointment many felt that Yahoo was not to receive any up-front payments, in addition to lower revenue-sharing and cost-savings agreements than had previously been speculated. Microsoft investors seemed a little more enthusiastic about the deal, closing at 1.4% up. Google dropped slightly, but not enough to raise any eyebrows – a scant 0.8%.
Even now, the deal hasn’t been fully implemented. It could take up to two and a half years to get approval and pass antitrust and privacy regulations.
Yahoo had previously attempted a merger with Google, which was dropped for antitrust and privacy reasons after the U.S. Justice Department began to look into it. The Obama administration may look more kindly on this merger to create competition for Google, but that theory is yet to be tested.
That’s a lot of obstacles for the merger to get through, but they may yet rival Google in years to come if they can manage it. All there is left to do is wait and see – and search online for updates.
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03.27.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:38 am by Administrator
Businesses of all sizes are finding that search marketing is still a valuable tool offering the strongest return on investments.
No one knows just how long search engine marketing will continue to be so effective, but so far there appears to be no signs that the current economic slump is threatening to slow its success.
Search marketing is still effective
“We believe that search is not immune to macroeconomic forces, but we also believe it will have the least relative decline of the various marketing tools,” explained Craig McDonald, vice president of marketing and product management with interactive marketing and product management company Covario, Inc.
When asked why search marketing remains unaffected, McDonald explained, “I can tell you precisely the answer to that. There’s less risk in spending money on search. It’s very measured and the cheapest form of lead acquisition out there.”
2009 search marketing predictions
The numbers say it all. A new Covario study reveals yearly growth in paid search in North America was 32 percent during the third quarter. That’s about the same as the previous year.
What’s more, Forrester Research predicts paid search marketing will increase 26 percent this year reaching 114 billion dollars in the U.S. It is expected that search budgets will remain stable throughout most of 2009.
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05.13.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:14 pm by Administrator
Over the past 25 years, in every quarter except one, American consumer spending rose over the previous year, according to a November BusinessWeek article. Consumers have continued to shop through both good and bad times. Access to easy credit has been responsible for this spending spree. BusinessWeek sees the subprime crisis as the “beginning of the end for the long consumer borrow–and buy–boom.” A recent New York Times report explores the possibility of an impending recession and notes, “It may be an unavoidable step toward purging the U.S. and…global economy of a major source of instability: an unhealthy dependence on the willingness of American consumers to keep buying even as debt mounts.” Since the DRTV industry is heavily dependent on consumer spending, a pullback by consumers could have a big impact on our industry.
THE CRUX OF THE PROBLEM
First, let’s look at the housing slump and its possible effect on spending. Cheap credit from 2004 to 2006 allowed Americans to take out more than $800 billion a year from their homes, according to the New York Times. So the decline in home prices could definitely impact consumer spending. Christopher Carroll, a Johns Hopkins economist, told BusinessWeek that every $1 decline in housing prices cuts about 9 cents off of spending. The report further shows that a 10- to 15-percent decline in home prices will decrease spending by $200 to $300 billion, which is about two to three percent of personal income. This decline in income is likely to diminish consumer discretionary purchases of apparel, automotive and certain luxury goods. Retailers and marketers of these types of goods could be hit hard if consumers cut spending.
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03.18.08
Posted in Uncategorized, drtv, media buying at 3:05 pm by Administrator
Often referred to as cost per click advertising, PPC advertising is used to boost a website’s ranking status among search engine results.
Advertisers pay a predetermined price every time someone clicks on a keyword located somewhere on the Internet. When the user clicks the highlighted keyword, he or she is directed to the advertiser’s website. Additionally, the advertiser is charged for the click.
PPC advertising is beneficial to advertisers seeking a way to increase traffic to their website almost instantly. One of the challenges PPC users face, however, is how quickly the campaign cost can increase as the websites popularity grows.
Therefore, the PPC campaign should be monitored closely to prevent a budget blowout. [Natural or organic rankings, often achieved by good SEO (search engine optimization) and keyword use is the second means for gaining good search engine rankings.]
PPC and banner advertising both present separate yet relative marketing strategies. The strategy that will work best for any given company depends mainly upon the goals and needs of the organization.
Either way, an experienced online media buyer can assist with the purchase of an ad campaign, and go a long way in maximizing the company’s ROI.
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03.12.08
Posted in Uncategorized, drtv, media buying at 4:27 pm by Administrator
Two popular ways to effectively market a business online are banner advertising and pay per click (PPC) marketing. Many companies utilize both techniques to effectively advertise their infomercial products and services through an organized Internet marketing effort.
For all intents and purposes, banner advertising is used to raise and maintain a business’ brand and image. Banner advertisements are found on pre-selected websites, generally at the top of the page. When an Internet browser clicks the advertisement, they are redirected to the advertiser’s website.
Banner ads are popular because they link potential customers to the advertiser’s website with a simple click. A banner ad campaign, like a DRTV campaign, is also ideal because it is easy to track the results and overall effectiveness of the online advertising campaign.
Not only can the advertiser see how many times an advertisement has been viewed, but he or she can also note the amount of customers who opted to click through to the website.
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02.15.08
Posted in Uncategorized, drtv, media buying at 9:21 pm by Administrator
According to a research media survey released in January, three fourths (75%) of consumers talk or channel surf during television advertising.
The Simultaneous Media Survey reports on the input of more than 15,000 people. The survey also concluded for consumers to keep up with the overflow of media options, they have no choice but to multitask with other media.
“Technology is creating new media options faster than most people can assimilate and is causing more multitasking,” Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch, said. “Unfortunately for marketers faced with the challenges of an uncertain economy and the need to increase marketing ROI, new media options are impacting how consumers use traditional media.
“Specifically, TV’s influence on consumers to purchase products declined, whereas new media options such as web radio, satellite radio, instant messaging and blogging all increased,” he added. “Consumers seem to be seeking information from digital platforms while TV has traditionally been viewed as a brand building medium, which isn’t providing the requisite information.”
Despite the results, Bigresearch maintains that television advertising (including DRTV), infomercials and other traditional forms of media have not lost their overall influence. It may go without saying, but it remains more critical than ever that the advertising, no matter what the medium, is both timely and of value to the consumer.
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01.28.08
Posted in Uncategorized, drtv, media buying at 4:50 pm by Administrator
Google will be leading an effort to develop software that will make cellphones more like mobile computers with improved Internet access. Google is looking to transform the mobile industry in the same manner that the PC changed the world of computing in the 1980’s, according to the NY Times (11/6/07). In order to accomplish this goal, Google will provide outside software developers with access to their phone’s functions. They hope this will encourage software developers to create PC like programs and services for cellphones.
The Internet is Going Mobile
Google recognizes that the Internet is going mobile and they have aligned themselves with leading telecommunications and technology companies to make and market their phones. A group called the Open Handset Alliance expects to sell the Google powered phones in the second half of 2008, according to the NY Times. Critics point out that other companies have tried to form similar types of alliances and failed and that Google will face stiff competition from established players such as Microsoft, Nokia, Palm and Research in Motion (NY Times). In addition, the two largest cellular carriers in the U.S., AT&T and Verizon Wireless are not part of the alliance.
Increasing the Reach of Google’s Advertising
Google is looking to become the dominant player in mobile advertising, just like they have been the leader in online advertising. Google hopes that making it easier for consumers to access the web from their cellphones and making the experience more like that of a personal computer will increase the reach of their advertising. Google said it will likely share ad revenue with the wireless carriers, according to the Wall Street Journal (11/6/07).
Energizing the Mobile Industry
“Just like the iPhone energized the industry, this is a different way to energize the industry,” stated Sanjay Jha, COO of Qualcomm (NY Times). Mr. Jha also said Google’s efforts will bring more Internet features to moderately priced phones. By allowing outside software developers access to their Android software platform, Google also hopes they will create new types of devices that have both cellphone and wireless Internet capabilities. “As a result of the platform, you’ll be able to do amazing things on your phones that you’ve never been able to do before,” says Google CEO Eric Schmidt. (USA TODAY 11/6/07)
Diversifying their Revenue Base
Google is going up against some strong competitors, but they certainly have the clout and resources to gain a significant foothold in the mobile marketplace. Google’s surging stock price clearly indicates that Wall Street and investors anticipate that Google will be able to diversify their revenue base from new businesses outside of online advertising. In my opinion, mobile advertising has the potential to be as big as online advertising for Google. It will be interesting to see how Google’s venture into mobile plays out over the next few years, since it has the potential to transform the industry.
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11.15.07
Posted in Uncategorized, drtv, media buying at 5:09 pm by Administrator
Once you effectively target the Baby Boomer demographic, your sales will increase. The key is to understand what this group wants and how they use and view the different advertising mediums.
Boomers were the first generation to grow up with TV, so it makes sense that they still prefer this medium as they age. In fact, on average, Boomers watch 22 minutes more TV per day than younger people, according to Nielsen Media Research. And since TV viewership increases with age, as the Boomers mature, their infomercial TV viewing time will continue to rise.
The big misconception in online marketing and media buying is that you can’t reach Boomers via the Internet. In fact, Baby Boomers make up one-third of the 195 million web users in the United States, according to JupiterResearch. Additionally, ad buyers targeted Boomers with close to 5 billion dollars in ads in 2004, out of 13 billion spent in web advertising. So don’t think that Boomers aren’t online and that they reject technology. Nothing could be further from the truth.
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, over half (54%) of 60-69 year-olds go online, and 72% of 51-59 year-olds surf the net. Further, studies show that Boomers spend more money online that the average web user, yet they’re still the most underserved audience on the net.
So take a look at your current TV and online campaigns and make sure they address the needs and concerns of the Boomer market. Revamp your marketing messages and placements as needed so you can cash in on the nearly trillion dollars of spending power this group has. When you do, you’ll have tapped into a large and profitable niche that can quickly boost your company’s profits to new levels of success.
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