Even though we’ve all seen them (and likely clicked on them), search ads remain a mystery for many. Under a variety of monikers – search ads, paid search, pay-per-click – these are the sponsored links (Google) or sponsored results (Yahoo) which appear when you conduct an online search. Companies bid on words with which to associate their ad, and as internet users search for these key-words, the sponsored ads are displayed. Companies are then charged by Google or Yahoo each time a user clicks on one of these ads – thus the term “pay-per-click.”
Regardless of whether you found the preceding paragraph eye-opening or elementary, you will appreciate an article that I noticed in the Wall Street Journal last week (“Google Hit by Charge, but Ad Sales Are Strong,” January 23, 2009). Google reported a dramatic decrease in Q4 profit from the previous year. During the same time, however, paid clicks rose 18%! Despite the down economy, consumers are responding to online advertising.
The trend is expected to continue in 2009. The same article referenced eMarketer research claiming that search advertising is expected to rise another 15% this year. Are you riding the wave?
There is no denying that the global economy is in the tank. There are very few rays of sun poking through the collective doom and gloom that has become the pervasive economic sentiment. Balihoo is in the unique position of actually being one of those rays of sun. We reacted early to the warning signs of a slowing economy and have been rewarded by the general market. Because we were talking to our customers early and often and working with them as partners rather than vendors we have been able to collectively navigate through some choppy waters and are looking forward to a great 2009. If I could pass one piece of advice on to other companies in this very difficult time it would be:
Work with your customers, vendors, employees and partners as if tomorrow will come. Avoid leveraging any situation where you have the upper hand for short term gain, rather extend that hand to your partner so that you can both live to see another day. In the end you will be judged more by how you performed during a down cycle than an up one and karma has a strange way of being an equalizer in the long run.
Go make something good happen.
Yesterday - probably like many of you, I watched the Inauguration on Live stream via CNN in partnership with Facebook. Watching that really hit home how social networking sites are starting to evolve truly away from self centered ‘look at me, look at how important I am’ usage model to one of real discussion. I found it amazing to see the stream of thought coming in from online users. According to information collected there were over 1 million ‘wall updates’ during the inauguration. What is more amazing though is the increased use of online streaming to watch live Television.
According to the associated press, as of 3:30 p.m. EST Tuesday Jan 20, CNN.com said it served more than 21.3 million live streams globally since 6 a.m. That was nearly four times the amount of live streams on the site on Election Day when there were 5.3 million lives streams. Then consider that many of these were likely in group settings at schools and offices to get an idea of the total number of viewers online. Yes there were some bandwidth issues for some but think about how far online video has come from shoddy sometimes pirated clips on You Tube only a few yeas ago to live streaming and online TV.
Today I received a link to a free (sponsored) copy of a Forrester report about online video trends. It was written in May of 2008 with numbers based on a Q42007 survey, but amazingly relevant considering what we are seeing unfold (If anything the numbers are higher now). Definitely go and get a copy - it worth a read. The premise is that people are now using their PC like a TV, or as a device to port online based video onto larger TV screens, and the trend to online TV will continue as long as there is convenience, ease of use and an ‘appropriate’ level of advertising.
They present some interesting statistics on usage habits. In addition, they present some thoughts on how the market could unfold. For example - how online TV and the net will likely upstage the DVR as the net will allow for place shifting as well as time shifting which is offered by the DVR.
In an era when broadcast advertising is losing its effectiveness, online TV presents a new opportunity to bring ad revenue back to this medium. Plus local advertisers should be very excited about this as well. Just like other online advertising options, online video gives a user the ability to track and target much better. In addition as customization and distribution technologies such as Balihoo Marketer bring the power to the local advertiser at an increasingly affordable price point, TV advertising becomes a very viable option for any small business - not just group buying or the largest retailers.
I subscribe to a great free service called Change This. Each month I get an email with a list of new short e-books and or manifesto’s on a variety of thought provoking topics. In the most recent issue there is a short e-book by Martin Linstrom called This is your Buyology. It is a summary based on his current book Buyology – Truth and lies about Why we buy.
The e-book focuses mainly on his research in using neurology to determine the similarities between religious followers of faith and brand devotion to better understand consumer desire.
“My objective was to use neuroscience to examine whether the same brain activation evident in the brain of a devout Christian, when exposed to faith-related triggers, was also evident in the brains of fans of emotionally powerful brands like Apple, Harley Davidson, and Guinness when they were exposed to the iconography of their brand preferences.”
Obviously based on release of the book he found some correlationJ He then interviewed religious leaders from around the world to determine the components for a powerfully engaging religion. The ingredients he found were the following:
· Clear Vision
· A sense of belonging
· Power from enemies
· Storytelling
· Grandeur
· Evangelism
· Symbols
· Mystery
· Rituals
Some of these are more obvious than others. For example I found Power from Enemies a very interesting concept. A brand’s enemy or competitor is a valuable tool, yet most brands do not advertise their enemies. Maybe harder to put into practice than the idea itself but one example I can think of is Apple and their sticky campaign of Mac vs PC, however as the article points out, few brands understand that an enemy is just as essential for a brands success as its logo and all other identity signals.
Another I found intriguing to think about was Rituals. The example they used was the use of lime with Corona. The interesting thing about this ritual was that it wasn’t started by the manufacturer – it was invented by a couple of bartenders in California. What other brands have rituals associated with them?
The article finished with a discussion and a proposal that brand logos are starting to go by the wayside as the core differentiator for a brand based on the neurological data. The author’s opinion is that the battle is really at the subconscious level where decision making really happens, and the most powerful brands no longer need a logo for brand recognition. What he refers to as smashable components – color, shape, sound smell etc. The indirect signals that tell the story about the brand without having to show the logo.
It might be an Interesting exercise to think about and how these concepts can apply to your business. These points are easier to think about when you talk about the iphone as the article does, but how for example can this same concept be applied to non products (such as software) or services? What are the indirect signals for your brand? Are they consistent or mixed? Strong or weak?
It’s a long-held fact that the majority of grocery shopping is driven by impulse purchases. Right? It may not be. A recent study published on Knowledge@Wharton counters this (see the study here).
The study states that impulse purchases make up only about 20% of total purchases, as opposed to previously held belief that they made up closer to 60-70% of total purchases. While this study was done in Europe and limited to grocery, the authors state the findings can be extended to the US, and I believe the findings can also be applied to many segments of retail and offer some great insights for retailers and product manufacturers alike.
One of the main findings is impulse purchasing may be more driven by nature than nurture. That is, in the past, marketers mainly drove unplanned purchases through in-store advertising (i.e. “nurture”). However, the study posits that consumers’ impulse purchasing is also driven by their demographics (i.e. nature). This doesn’t mean in-store promotion is not important by any means, but it does mean retail marketers should explore and balance between two different approaches to drive impulse purchases: marketing to the “right” consumers who are more likely to make impulse purchases in the first place, versus crafting an in-store environment that is most conducive to driving purchases. The two strategies, of course, can go hand-in-hand, and this thinking should drive retailers to balance in-store versus out-of-store marketing budgets to match their chosen strategy.
This article is especially interesting to me (and Balihoo) because our Marketer Edition offers the ability to launch and manage campaigns in all advertising mediums, as well as in-store advertising such as POP and in-store signage. As a software plus service provider, our advertising specialists talk with our many retail users every day about balancing their bugdets with in-store advertising versus more traditional, out-of-store advertising via TV, radio, online and print. I thought this article would provide some good insight to managing this ongoing balancing act.
In the December issue of Entrepreneur Magazine they, like many magazines released their list of trends in business for 2009. You can find an excerpt/summary of these items online here.
Their main trends were: Green, Economy, Health, Millennial’s, Boomers and the Web
When you read these, they seem obvious in their title, but the article does have some interesting commentary around each, especially in the print edition. For example - In the economy trend, one of the items I found interesting was how the current economic situation is changing the consumers mind-set. In this case the mind-set of 21-39 year old consumers by a recent study by the Zandl Group.
- Consumers are increasingly adopting a DIY (do it yourself) mentality to save money
- Consumers are looking to online barter sites for financial relief (eg. Ebay, Craigs List, etc.)
- Consumers are spending more time at home or close to home
This last one should be of particular interest to local marketers. With increasing prices in everything from food to energy (even with the current short term relief with auto fuel), consumers are gravitating to local establishments, and staying local over traveling for vacations. Plus the simple fact of spending more time at their residence will change behaviors on the types of things they spend money (such as upgrading the in-home entertainment vs a new stereo for the car). Now becomes an ideal time to not only advertise to local consumers but also find ways to connect with them to build a long term relationship and brand loyalty for when the trends change again. And I guess if you are a local DIY business, then I guess you have picked a winner based on this survey!
Success clearly begets success - as Balihoo continues to pile up the accolades for Marketer Edition, our ground-breaking
product that enables national brands to enable local demand generation, we’ve been nominated for another award. CEOWorld Magazine has identified us as one of the “Top Advertising and Marketing Web Applications.” Please take a quick second to go to their website and vote for us (no registration required) to get us to the top of the list. Thanks!
The Oldest Living Digital Marketer (http://www.oldestliving.com/) is telling all about Balihoo Marketer Edition.
Jim Nichols wrote a great little overview on Balihoo Marketer Edition entitled ‘Ad Makers Post Five: Balihoo’. His entire ‘Ad Makers’ series is an awesome resource for anyone looking to find a listing of solid companies that have developed platforms and applications that make it easy to produce quality advertisements quickly and affordably.
Nichol’s writes that his series aims to address who and what these companies are and how their differ from one another. Ultimately, he questions “the implications of this movement on the future of our industry?”
AND If for some reason you aren’t in the mood for that series line, check out his most recent post on entitled: Beyonce Single Ladies Imitators. Bound to make both Beyonce enthusiasts and loathers smile.
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