The Death of Newspapers: Poisoned or Suicide?
The evidence of newspapers’ decline as a primary source of information in America is everywhere. My local paper narrowed to a tabloid size yesterday, following USA Today, Arizona Republic, and many, many other papers. Essentially all newspapers have laid off significant portions of their staff. Some (like East Valley Tribune in suburban Phoenix) are printing […]
How Huffington Post and Obama Killed the New York Times Online
AdAge revealed recently that the New York Times reported a steep 17.9% decline in ad revenues for July. Not unexpected, as many print behemoths are getting pummeled in this economy. (See related post “Is Digital Marketing Killing Magazine Ads”) However, NYTimes.com and the company’s other online efforts grew only .9% in July, compared to double […]
Why PPC is about to skyrocket – and then CRASH
Times are tough. But one area that is ready to soar is pay-per-click search marketing (PPC). That most measurable and controllable of digital marketing opportunities, PPC looks like a no-brainer in this economy. Have you called a newspaper lately and asked them if they’ll charge you per phone call generated? Even with ad sales down […]
The 10 Strengths of the Agency of the Future
Web services giant Sapient recently fielded a national online digital marketing survey of more than 200 chief marketing officers (CMOs) and senior marketers responsible for managing digital budgets (among other things). Survey respondents were asked about the top qualities they sought in their advertising and marketing agencies in the coming year. Sapient’s Top 10 Wish […]
Customized Internet Marketing Training for Agencies
Convince & Convert launches new training program series to help agencies improve their digital capabilities Addressing the needs of ad agencies and PR firms to improve their digital marketing competency, Convince & Convert is now providing a series of customizable, in-person training programs. We are offering 5 intensive, all-day sessions to train ad agencies and […]
The Alarming Truth About Digital Marketing’s Imperfections
A One Legged Stool There’s no question the Internet has been good to me. The last two jobs I had before getting involved in Internet marketing in 1994 were spokesman for the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections (prison tours), and marketing director for Waste Management (landfill tours). I prefer this gig as it is smell […]
Wake Up Agencies – Digital Shops = Trojan Horse
It was bound to happen, and now it has. A big-time digital agency (R/GA) has opened up a full-fledged brand development arm. And whom do you think they will be competing against with this new branding department? Other digital agencies? Nope. They are aiming for traditional agencies and the branding, media placement, and creative budgets […]
Internet Advertising to Grow 20% in 2008
A new report from Bernstein Research says online advertising in the U.S. will grow by 20% in 2008, despite weakness in travel, auto, and financials. Top categories for online advertising spend include: Finance, insurance, real estate – 29.6% of overall spend Media and entertainment – 25.2% Retail – 13.8% Other – 12.9% Auto – 8.6% […]
Ad Networks Are a House of Cards – But a Great Deal
A groundbreaking study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Bain & Company shows that ad networks’ share of display ad sales soared from 5% to 30% from 2006-2007. (Read the excellent full report here) It seems the rise in Internet advertising (~20% per year, according to eMarketer) is creating a flurry of new sites, and […]
3 New Features for Google’s Ad Planner
Google announced on Friday via one of their blogs that they have added 3 new features to Ad Planner. (note: for more about Ad Planner, and Google’s long-term plan to totally change the ad agency business, read this post from Convince & Convert’s greatest hits) Impressive that Google has made pretty significant upgrades to Ad […]
Agency Advantage Tools #2 – Yureekah
The variety and quality of banner ads online is truly staggering. From the infamous X10 Camera pop-up, to Punch the Monkey, to today’s highly engaging rich media video ads, turning out great banner creative is a universal challenge. For nearly every facet of the creative process, there are libraries that can be used for inspiration. […]
Automakers Increase Internet Ads – Why It Will Work
AdAge reports that GM has moved approximately 25% of its total media budget online over the past three years. That’s 25% of a $2 billion+ annual media spend. A current focus for GM’s online initiatives is the new Used Car Ambush program, a microsite and online campaign intended to convince used car shoppers to purchase […]
3 Reasons Why Social Networks Are Bad Ad Buys
A recent article by Michael Estrin in iMediaConnection asks whether social media has lost its luster from an advertising standpoint. Traffic and usage of the major social networks continues to soar, with traffic to Facebook and Linked In up considerably in the past 30 days. In fact, LinkedIn which is considered to be the least […]
Is Digital Marketing Killing Magazine Ads?
A report last week by the Publishers Information Bureau found that advertising pages in the nation’s magazines declined by 7.4% compared to the first half of 2007. With the stock market down by about 20%, and house prices down at least that much in some parts of the country, a 7% dip in magazine ads […]
Media Buyers Say Internet Advertising Will Grow in Next 6 Months
Market Research firm Advertising Perceptions released a new survey of 1,811 media buyers showing that a whopping 72% of them believe Internet advertising spend will increase in the second half of 2008. This is a shocking finding, considering that no other medium (other than mobile) was expected to grow by more than 28% of the […]
91% of Top Digital Agencies Not Buying Their Own Brands on PPC
In a shocking (and embarassing) revelation today, AdWeek uncovered that of the 56 world-class digital marketing agencies featured in their Annual Report Card, just 5 are purchasing their own brand names in PPC. In fairness to the firms, most of them appear at or near the top of organic search results for their own brand […]