MarketingProfs Daily

Ad Spend Forecast Again Revised Upward

Fri, 3 Sep 2010 13:30:00 GMT

Driven by a faster than expected rebound in the US advertising market and continued robust growth in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, worldwide ad expenditure is forecast to grow 3.9% in 2010, an upward revision of 1.0 percentage point from the 2.9% forecast issued in March 2010, according to Carat.

Twitter-Based Customer Service: How Best Buy Gets It Right

Thu, 2 Sep 2010 17:00:00 GMT

In a minor stroke of genius, Best Buy created @Twelpforce, a Twitter-based means to pose tech questions and get answers in real time. Today, Twelpforce is more than 28,000 followers strong. Reviews are so positive, and its execution so impressive, that the agency responsible (Crispin Porter + Bogusky) received the Titanium ...

Four Rotten Marketing Thoughts to Avoid at All Cost

Thu, 2 Sep 2010 15:30:00 GMT

In a post at the B2B MarketingSmarts blog, Susan Fantle recalls a negative thought recently expressed by a client-one she's heard countless times. "It occurred to me that it might be time to share [a] list of bad thoughts so that other B2B marketers might see the possible error of ...

Brands Caught Astroturfing Risk Losing Customers

Thu, 2 Sep 2010 13:45:00 GMT

Most marketers say online "astroturfing"�the practice of generating fake online product reviews and testimonials�is unethical, and many would consider not buying from a brand if they discovered the brand was engaging in such a practice, according to a recent survey from R2integrated (R2i).

On Demand Seminar: Social Media is a Powerful Tool for Small Businesses

Thu, 2 Sep 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Presenter: Sean McDonaldLearn why your small business is better suited for the new frontier and lessons that can be learned from both small and large companies.

Two Sure Ways to Make Your Email Copy Sing

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 14:00:00 GMT

In a post at Email Marketing Reports, Mark Brownlow presents a screenshot that looks like a page from a 19th-century novel: lengthy paragraphs filled with sentences of uniform length. That, he notes emphatically, is not how your email messages should look. "In fact, you wouldn't read the words if that was ...

Facebook Users Like Brands for Discounts, Social Badging

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 13:30:00 GMT

Though consumers turn to Facebook primarily to connect with friends and fill downtime, product discounts and "social badging" are the most commonly cited motivations for "liking" brands on Facebook, according to a survey from ExactTarget and Co-Tweet.

With Content Marketing, You Get What You Pay For

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:00:00 GMT

At least once a day, writes Joe Pulizzi at the Junta 42 blog, he receives an email asking how much content marketing (print and online) should cost. The short answer: It depends. "Look at it this way," he says. "I can pay $12 dollars to play eighteen holes of golf ...

Brands Undervalue Social Media for Customer Service

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Though many companies are now using social media to acquire new customers and increase brand awareness, few are using social media channels for customer-service objectives, according to a survey from Alterian. Among surveyed top-brand senior-level marketing executives, 30.1% cite customer acquisition as their most important objective for social media and ...

Take 10: How To Set Up Website Profiles in Google Analytics

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Justin Cutroni walks you through some of the basic settings in Google Analytics.

Social Media Planning: As Easy as 1-2-3

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Need help defining specific objectives for your social marketing campaigns? Check out our how-to guide, A Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Social Media Program.

SEO Copywriting: Five Secrets to Online Success

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:00:00 GMT

According to Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger, using the right words in the right way in your website copy will consistently help convert visitors to buyers while also determining "how well you rank in search engines and how much traffic you get." In a popular post at the blog, Clark offers ...

Top 50 Online Properties by Ad Reach and Visits in July

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:00:00 GMT

Google Sites comprised the top-ranked online property in July with 178.4 million unique visitors, followed by Yahoo Sites with 174.2 million, while BrightRoll Video Network led in comScore's July Ad Focus ranking with a potential reach of 96% of Americans online, followed by SpotXchange Video Ad Network with 93%.

Top-Gaining Site Categories in July led by Gambling

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:30:00 GMT

Interest in the annual World Series of Poker Tournament drove US Web traffic to online gambling sites in July 2010, while more than 170 million consumers visited an online retail site during the month, shopping for toys, tickets, and other consumer goods, according to data from the comScore Media Metrix ...

How to Get SaaS Pricing Right

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 GMT

Setting SaaS [software as a service] pricing is an important but daunting task for most early stage start-ups, especially when they don't have a track record. The first task in selling SaaS, writes Bob Warfield in a recent post on Enterprise Irregulars, is getting anyone to pay anything for your ...

Social Network Gaming Gaining Wider Adoption

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:30:00 GMT

One in five US consumers age six and older (20%)�roughly 56.8 million people�say they have played a game on a social networking website in the previous three months, according to a report from The NPD Group.

Five New Branding Lessons From Lady Gaga

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:00:00 GMT

It's Lady Gaga lesson-time again. After all, she is a marketer who consistently goes viral. And her results ring loud: Gaga's the first artist to hit 1 billion YouTube views. And she's turned quite a handy-dandy profit: 11.5 million albums sold in two years, including through digital media (where she ...

Three Ways to Kick-Start a Sales Cycle

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:30:00 GMT

A 2009 survey of decision makers in B2B companies found that "86% of the 'unique benefits' touted by vendors were not perceived as unique or having enough impact to create preference," writes Tim Riesterer in a recent article at MarketingProfs. "Is it any wonder you are having a hard time ...

Higher Spending SMBs Using More Media Channels

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:30:00 GMT

Higher spending small- to medium-sized business advertisers (SMBs) not only allocate more money to their advertising budgets than the other SMBs on average, but use over twice as many media channels in their marketing mix, according to a survey from BIA/Kelsey.

On Demand Seminar: Cisco and the Social Web: Our Adoption and Evolution

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Presenter: LaSandra BrillLearn about how Cisco created billions of media impressions for half the traditional cost.

Four Ways to Maintain Customer Loyalty in a Downturn

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:00:00 GMT

"Customer loyalty matters, because selling more to current customers is easier and cheaper than finding and selling to new ones," writes Chintan Bharwada in an article at MarketingProfs. "Loyal customers tend to buy more, more regularly. And they will frequently recommend your business to others." In the midst of a sluggish ...

How to Connect With Customers on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:30:00 GMT

In today's marketplace, the customer is in control and companies are being held to a whole new level of accountability, Paul Chaney notes in an on-demand seminar at the MarketingProfs site. Today's skeptical consumers are downright resistant to advertisers-and "the pressure is on to improve targeting to achieve relevance and ...

How Miracle-Gro Uses Email to Grow Offline Sales

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:00:00 GMT

"One click between email message and e-commerce is so ingrained for all of us-as both buyers and marketers-that it's almost nostalgic to think of using email solely to promote offline purchases," writes Stephanie Miller in an article at MarketingProfs. But that's exactly how Scotts Miracle-Gro-a company with no direct online sales ...

Direct Marketers Facing Longer Unemployment

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:00:00 GMT

The job outlook for unemployed direct marketers has deteriorated sharply: The median length of unemployment among those actively seeking work is now 12.0 months, compared with 6.5 months reported a year earlier, according to a new survey from Bernhart Associates Executive Search, LLC.

Four Ways to Improve Your Email Campaigns

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:30:00 GMT

If there's one piece of advice experts have for email marketers, it's to test, test and test again. To be sure you're getting everything you possibly can from your A/B tests, Kristen Gregory of Bronto offers four pieces of very good advice: Remember that one test won't give you a conclusive ...