Ad Sales Blog

If you had seen the "media correction" of 2009 coming what would it have looked like?

It might have looked like the following blog post. Based on events that had just happened in the financial industry my June 22, 2007 blog post, describes the "inevitable correction" ad based media will go through. Looks like the end of 2009 to me!    

A recent "follow the money" analysis of the advertising industry by Dow Jones' "MarketWatch" should serve as a shrill wake up call to anyone in the ad sales business who thinks that online products will not be the biggest part of their portfolio in the future. I also see this article as a great sales tool to show any advertiser who feels the same.

The article looks at the recent spate of acquisitions among online ad giants with eye popping billion (with a "B") dollar signs; Google buys DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, Microsoft buys aQuantive--for $6 billion, etc. MarketWatch concludes, they make perfect sense because of the "inevitable correction" coming to the ad industry as a whole.

MarketWatch lays out the case:
"Last year, U.S. consumers spent nearly a third of their total media-consumption time engaged with online or interactive media, a dramatic increase from just two or three years ago. At the same time, Fortune 500 companies allocated only 6 percent of their marketing budgets to online media in 2006, up from 5 percent in 2005...they're spending ever more money where, increasingly, consumers aren't."

The prediction:
"The inevitable correction is upon us. That's why online adverting in the U.S. market is growing seven times faster than other advertising media: Online was up 35% year over year, while the overall ad market grew only 4 percent. Whether dollar allocation percentages ever match consumer usage numbers is academic; it's clear that the gap between consumer behavior and corporate marketing budgets must close."

If it's anxiety producing to hear financial types apply the word "correction" to the industry where you currently earn a living, take heart. Now that you know what is "inevitable" you can take advantage.

Read the full article on MarketWatch

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Detroit unemployment sponsored by Toyota

Welcome to the world of digital media where ad placements are driven by numbers, CPM, click throughs, and gross impressions...people not so much. When things get automated weird juxtapositions come up. Did Toyota actually sponsor Detroit's unemployment? Obviously not, but they did sponsor the ad that ended up above a news story about it. The positive community theme of the ad is out of place on top of a photo of a run down Detroit neighborhood. 

Sorry Toyota, not your fault. It's impossible to predict what content will appear where on any news site and with automated ad placements you can never be sure where your ad will end up. It's just how these things get done in digital on Madison Avenue these days.   

    

Social media bubble?

One more time...are we in a social media bubble? Here is a funny video posted on the subject two years ago. Back in July when I posted this question on Social Media Today it became the most commented on post of the month. As we look to a new year are we any closer to an answer? What do you think?

Fastest growing ad format: video

What will the fastest growing online ad format be in the coming years? According to research from eMarketer, It looks like video will be. Look at the % of growth. Big numbers!  

 

Read the full report on eMarkerter:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007337

Customer engagement: What works best? Newsletters?

cScape, the British consultancy, has just released a terrific FREE study that measured how marketers use different strategies and tools to establish online engagement with their customers. cScape did us real service by mixing social media and traditional online tools to give us a better understating of the process, less the typical social media hype. 

The finding that stood out for me was when marketers were asked which media aided customer online engagement the most. All the newly minted social media experts must have headed screaming for the door as the lowly, e-newsletter took the top score. Sure social media is a great way to engage customers, but lets not get distracted by the sizzle. Newsletters are a great workhorse for advancing ongoing online customer engagement.  

Here is the chart of what marketers say improved their online customer engagement:

Ad agencies responded to the same question. Newsletters are the top pick for both groups:   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View a free version of the report   

Forbes and Futures talk virtual events

Matt Schifirn from Forbes talks about his company's four virtual events. Schifirn advises that the process of putting on a virtual event is a constant learning experience and advises not to underestimate the importance of the networking sessions that go on between the online presentations.

Click to see the videos

 

Ginger Salza from Futures magazine talks about her publication's two annual online events. Salza says about half of all attendees who come have never been to any conference, live or virtual. She also talks about about how International events work well because no one has to travel.

  Click to see the videos

More women are on social media websites than men. Are they more sociable?

Pigdom tracked down the top social media site demographics and compared the number of men and women on them.

• 16 out of 19 sites had more female than male users with the average of all 19 sites 47% male, 53% female.
• Social news sites Digg, Reddit and Slashdot have significantly more male users topped by slashdot with 82% male users.
• If we hadn’t included the three social news sites, all of the sites would have had more females than males.
• Twitter and Facebook have almost the same male-female ratio; Twitter with 59% female users and Facebook with 57%.
• The most female-dominated site? Bebo (66% female users), closely followed by MySpace and Classmates.com (64%).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read the whole post on Pingdom:

http://royal.pingdom.com/2009/11/27/study-males-vs-females-in-social-networks

 

Three FREE sales training sessions for selling through the recession

Robin Carey, CEO of Social Media Today, introduces the three 30 minute training sessions. Each session is anchored by a content expert: Jill Konrath talks customer loyalty, Richard Nacht on social media in sales, and I talk about selling through the recession. The program was produced by The Customer Collective, a social media community managed by Social Media Today. The program was sponsored by Oracle Corporation.

Here Robin Carey introduces just my session:  

All the sessions are FREE with registration. Register HERE.  

Join me for a FREE digital magazine webinar tomorrow

On November 3rd I will again be talking about the next generation of digital magazines on a webinar entitled , "Digital Magazines - Strategies for Today & Tomorrow" run by BtoB and BtoB's Media Business magazines. Needless to say, I'll be in charge of the "tomorrow" part. Show time is at 2 PM EST. I'll be presenting along with Brigitte Johnson, Executive Editor, Tree Farmer Magazine.

Registerr for free

Special thanks to the webinar sponsor, Nxtbook Media who is also a sponsor for the Digital Magazine Ad Engagement Project   

See my Folio show digital magazine presentation on demand

You can see my Folio Conference presentation featuring preliminary research from the Digital Magazine Ad Engagement Project.

It takes a little work but it is free: first go to this link and egister: http://www.folioshow.com/virtual/registration.

 Next, continue with free registration. It will tell you thanks for registering. Close the window and you should get an e-mail in your inbox.

2. Open the e-mail. Make sure you are able to view pictures in your -email viewer. If you use Outlook and it blocks graphics, right click on any graphic and click “download pictures”

3. You will see a large red button that says “Enter.” You will need to disable pop-ups and click the button.

4. Now log in using the user name and password from your registration.

5. As you enter the screen click on “Theater” then  scroll ALL the way down on the left until you see a yellow button that says “Click Here to View On Demand Presentations.” 

6. After you get to the theater screen, scroll right to the “Spotlight Symposium on Digital Magazines” section. Then click on “The Opportunity for Cost Reduction and Revenue Growth” and to view the presentation.

It's a little work to get there. I hope it's worth it.

 

How Chris Brogan walks the walk

Social media guru and uberblogger Chris Broganwas coming to town. I was going to see him and Tweeted about it. Having never met Brogan I was surprised and delighted to receive a funny Tweet back (on left). 

I got a laugh but insight as well.In Chris' response was reinforced many social media best practices.

First, as with implementing any social media program, Chris listened before he acted. He must have been monitoring social media networks, including Twitter, and noticed my Tweet about his upcoming appearance.

Second, as with any social media program, his response had a conversational, personal style. In this case, along with his wonderful sense of humor. 

Finally, he was starting to build a community. Every presentation is a community building event; in the best a presenter arrives before a crowd of unrelated people, speaks, and leaves behind a community of people with shared interest, knowledge, and passion. Brogan was starting his community building even before he stood before his audience.  

The Trust Summitwhere Brogan spoke along with Julien Smith, David Maister, and Charles H. Green was a tremendous success.

I especially enjoyed seeing Charlie Green, who long ago almost single handedly created the conversation about trust in business, share the stage with Brogan who advocates social media tools as the new trust builders. The two shared common values and different styles. All the presenters were terrific.  

 

UK follows Denmark as second country where Internet ad revenue overtakes TV

In the US where television advertising still commands the largest share of ad dollars what has happened in the UK is unthinkable; Internet advertising revenue has surpassed TV ad revenue for the first time. From a recent report in the The Guardian newspaper: 

 The UK has become the first major economy where advertisers spend more on internet advertising than on television advertising, with a record £1.75bn online spend in the first six months of the year.

UK advertisers spent £1.75bn on internet advertising in the six months to the end of June, a 4.6% year-on-year increase, according to a report by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. To put this in perspective, in 1998, when the IAB first measured internet advertising, just £19.4m was spent online.

The internet now accounts for 23.5% of all advertising money spent in the UK, while TV ad spend accounts for 21.9% of marketing budgets.

The IAB's figures show that of the total of £1.75bn spent on internet advertising, £1.05bn, or 60%, was spent on search advertising on websites including Google, up 6.8% year on year.

The UK is not the first country where internet ad spend has overtaken TV spend, Denmark reached the milestone about six months ago. But it is the first major economy to do so.

How soon do you think this will happen in the US? 

Read the entire article in the Guardian 

Oct 27th: The day publishers learn to sell ads in digital magazines

After months of research, I will be sharing initial findings from the study I have been managing, The Digital Magazine Ad Engagement Project. On October 27th I will present at two venues. First, a live address in New York at the DPAC4 conference along with crusty publishing legend Bob Sacks who will be keeping me on my toes. Click on the banner and go the DPAC4 site for details:    

Here is my session description:

2:15pm: Can Digital Magazines Become a Widely Accepted Advertising Platform? Josh Gordon thinks so. As director of the Digital Magazine Ad Engagement Project he has interviewed the pioneering publishers now successfully selling advertising into “interactive magazines” which, unlike digital replicas of print publications, are designed to be digital from the start. Gordon will share the two success principles interactive magazine publishers must embrace, and present preliminary findings from the first ever study focusing on just interactive magazine readers. If you work in marketing, this presentation will state the case for advertising in interactive magazines, if you are a magazine publisher you may see the future of your business. Speakers: Josh Gordon, Director, The Digital Magazine Ad Engagement Project & Bob Sacks, Publisher, Precision Media Group.

Later that same day... If you are not in NY or cannot swing the DPAC admission(about $600) you can register for a FREE webcast as part of the Annual Folio Show Digital Magazine Symposium. For the first time ever the annual Folio conference is virtual. Admission for the entire program is free if you register. Click here to register.

My session will be part of the digital magazine track: 3:00-3:45 p.m. SESSION A: THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COST REDUCTION AND REVENUE GROWTH

I hope you can join me for one of these sessions!

PS: On November 3rd I will again be talking about the next generation of digital magazines on a webinar entitled , "Digital Magazines - Strategies for Today & Tomorrow" run by BtoB and BtoB's Media Business magazines. Needless to say, I'll be in charge of the "tomorrow" part. Show time is at 2 PM EST. I'll be presenting along with Brigitte Johnson, Executive Editor, Tree Farmer Magazine.

Register for free

PPS: I'd like to thank the sponsors of the Digital Magazine Ad Engagement Project, my friends at Zinio and Nxtbook Media.   

How viral video works

 

Here is a great video that explains what makes successful viral videos tick. Please sit thorough the cliche intro about the historical beginnings of communications. What is extremely insightful comes after when the video describes how viral videos are different from just any video short, how they propagate, and why they work. Worth watching!!