Drake Morton Must Read

Marketers Say eMail Strongest Performing Media Buy

Datran Media recently released the results of its second annual survey of over 2000 online marketing professionals, finding that 82 percent of the marketers surveyed indicated that they plan to increase their use of email marketing in 2008, and 55 percent of the respondents cite that they expect ROI from email to be higher than any other channel. The reports says that the survey results are consistent with the Direct Marketing Association’s recent report, which found that email ROI will hit $45.65 for every dollar spent in 2008, more than twice the ROI of other mediums including search and display.

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A Must Read from Drake Morton 

What Does A Recession Mean

For Your Search Program? 

 

by Chris Copeland , Friday, January 25, 2008 

 

BY MOST ACCOUNTS, THE U.S. economy is about to enter the 12th recession since WWII. The last came in 2001 following the attacks on 9/11 and roughly a year and a half after the dot-com-fueled stock market reached its peak and began its rapid decline through the bubble bursting. Now, we find ourselves inside another economic downturn where the housing market and the lending institutions that support them have both been thrown into upheaval. It is also the first recession since Google’s rise to prominence. In 2001, Google’s market share was only 12%; now it is over 60%. 

 

It raises the question: Is Google and search at large a recession-proof business?

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Recommended Read from Drake Morton 

‘Good’,'Quiet’ Are Marketing Keys Now,

Says Analyst

 

by Karlene Lukovitz, Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008 5:00 AM ET

 

DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD is no longer just a smart strategy–it’s becoming an imperative for corporate survival, according to futurist Faith Popcorn and her branding consultancy, BrainReserve.

 

But hyping good works isn’t going to cut it. In fact, Popcorn maintains that obvious hype of any kind is anathema–that success will increasingly hinge on companies finding subtle, quiet ways to achieve trust and intimacy with consumers.

 

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by Phil Leggiere , Wednesday, January 23, 2008 

 

Breaking The Complexity Barrier 

 

FOR LARGER ADVERTISERS, BEHAVIORAL TARGETING is no longer a “wish-list” item. It’s become an accepted part of the everyday marketing mix, bringing with it new possibilities for extending not only reach but efficiency deep into the long tail of consumers. For smaller advertisers, however, the promises of BT have remained largely theoretical, as Michael Sprouse, CMO of ad network AzoogleAds, explains below. Making BT small and advertiser-friendly, he says, will involve breaking the complexity barrier. 

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Drake Morton Recommended Read:

Recession Proof Search Engine Optimization Tips

Posted by Lee Odden on Jan 18th, 2008 |

In this month’s Target Marketing Magazine, a TopRank authored article on how small businesses can gain a competitive marketing advantage by leveraging content promotion, blogs, social media and universal search was featured. Recently there has been some dialog and commentary on certain SEM channels about upcoming harder economic times calling for SEO to be taken back to the basics: “Textbook SEO” as Mike Grehan would put it. I disagree with the premise that companies should stop experimenting with new tactics and stick with the fundamentals. Effective SEO in any economic environment means getting more creative, not mundane.

“As search engines evolve with features such as personalized, social and unified search, so must marketers evolve — especially those on a budget.”

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Drake Morton recommended read:

Gas Prices Changing Consumer Habits

A new study from The Nielsen Company finds that 49 percent of U.S. consumers are reducing their spending to compensate for rising gas prices, up four points from June 2007. 70 percent of consumers are combining shopping trips and errands, and 41 percent are eating out less, and 39 percent staying home more often. (more…)

By Ross Fadner , January 18, 2008

Video Games Sales Surged 43% in ‘07

Associated Press
Video games had a monster year in 2007, according to annual sales figures from NPD Group, with retail sales $17.94 billion thanks to high-demand for games like “Halo 3″ and next generation consoles like the Nintendo Wii. Video game sales grew 43 percent, up from 12.53 billion in 2006. In December alone, Americans spent $4.82 billion on games, up 28 percent from a year earlier and 83 percent from November.

Breaking down the numbers, hardware sales jumped 54 percent to $7.04 billion in 2007, while software sales grew 34 percent to $8.64 billion. “The industry has become much more generally accepted as a mainstream form of entertainment, and that sets it up well for future expansion,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier told the AP.

As expected, Nintendo dominated hardware sales in 2007. It’s portable DS game system was the best-selling console with 8.5 million units sold, 2.5 million of which came in December. The Wii, in high-demand but short supply all year, sold 6.3 million units, with 1.4 million in December. Nintendo said it expects to sell even more Wiis this year, having raised production to 1.8 million units per month. The Xbox 360 sold 4.6 million units in 2007, with 1.3 million in December, thanks largely to the highly anticipated release of “Halo 3.”

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Drake Morton Shared Read

A Call to CPG Marketers:

Capitalize on Consumers’ Affinity for Online Relationships

by Jere Doyle , Thursday, January 17, 2008

CONSUMERS WANT ONLINE RELATIONSHIPS WITH their friends and colleagues. This is evident in the rise of social networks — both large, such as Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn, and smaller but rapidly growing niche communities such as CafeMom. A recent survey from my company shows people also welcome online relationships with consumer brands –specifically, consumer packaged goods (CPG). Seventy percent of respondents said they already use the Internet to research everyday grocery products. Many (47%) deem branded e-newsletters as their preferred channel of communication for this type of information, followed by branded CPG Web sites (39%) and online communities/forums (14%).

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Living La Vida Super Communicators

By Seana Mulcahy

When you think teens, you automatically think they are online, right? Can you guess what percentage of teens are using the Internet? A whopping 93%, according to a recent study by The Pew Internet & American Life Project. In fact, the Internet is said to be a part of a teen’s social life where they can share creations, tell stories, and interact with others.

The study finds teens (12 - 17) to be “super communicators” who have a host of technology options for dealing with family and friends, including traditional landline phones, cell phones, texting, social network sites, instant messaging, and email.

Among the latest survey findings:
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Sony BMG, last major label holding out,

will sell music on Amazon with no copy protections

Sony agrees to music deal Associated Press Article Launched: 01/11/2008 01:58:41 AM PST

Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the last major music label holding out against selling music online without copy protection, relented Thursday and announced that Amazon.com.’s digital music store will carry songs by its artists. Sony BMG had resisted selling songs from its catalog without embedding Digital Rights Management coding, which prevented them from being copied. Amazon’s digital music store sells songs only in the MP3 format, which can be burned onto CDs, copied to multiple PCs and played on any number of digital media players, including Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune.

-Associated Press