Monday, December 6, 2010

Web Ad Revenue Surges in 2010

Web Ad Revenue Surges in 2010eMarketer forecast sees an uptick of 13.9% to $25.8 billion
Dec 6, 2010 - Mike Shields

The recession is starting to fade from memory, in the online ad world at least.

Online advertising revenue will surge by 13.9 percent to $25.8 billion in 2010 in the U.S., according to the latest forecast from industry researcher eMarketer. That’s at least the third time that eMarketer has revised its 2010 spending estimates upward. A year ago the company predicted 5.5 percent growth this year. By May of this year that estimate had swelled to 11 percent.

The next several years should be robust for the online ad space as well, according to eMarketer. Next year, spending will climb by 10.5 percent—and in fact the researcher foresees double-digit spending growth in every year through 2014 with revenue netting out at $40.5 billion.

It appears that the Web’s relatively low cost compared to other media, coupled with its reputation for trackability may be propelling more dollars to the medium during the prolonged downturn.

According to eMarketer analyst David Hallerman, “It may seem ironic, but marketers’ economic concerns are leading them to spend more for online advertising.”

Donald Robichaud
FloodLight – Build Your Business
Kelowna / Ottawa / Toronto
Email
1-888-768-9415
http://www.floodlightconsulting.com/
http://donaldrobichaud.blogspot.com/

EU launches Google investigation after complaints

(Reuters) - EU regulators opened a formal investigation into Google on Tuesday, putting pressure on the world's top Internet search engine to offer concessions to settle antitrust complaints and avert a lengthy battle like Microsoft.

The move by the European Commission came more than nine months after British price comparison site Foundem and French legal search engine ejustice.fr alleged Google's search algorithm demoted their sites in Web search results because they were rivals.

Microsoft-owned Ciao, from Bing, also filed a complaint with the European Commission about Google's standard terms and conditions.

"The (European) Commission will investigate whether Google has abused a dominant market position in online search by allegedly lowering the ranking of unpaid search results of competing services," the EU executive said in a statement.

But Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said it was premature to say there was a problem with Google's business practices.

"I want to be very clear that this does not mean that there is definitely a problem -- it is far too early to say that," he told a European Parliamentary hearing.

Google said it would cooperate with the regulator.

"There is always going to be room for improvement, so we will be working with the Commission to address any concerns," a Google spokesman said.

The company defended its formula for ranking websites and said it had stopped using exclusive contracts almost two years ago.

"We built Google for users, not websites, and the nature of ranking is that some websites will be unhappy with where they rank," the spokesman said.

"Those sites have complained and even sued us over the years, but in all cases there were compelling reasons why their sites were ranked poorly by our algorithms."

The Commission said it would also look into allegations that Google sets exclusivity obligations on advertising partners, preventing them from placing certain types of competing ads on their websites, as well as on computer and software vendors, with the aim of shutting out competing search tools.

It would also investigate suspected restrictions on the portability of online advertising campaign data to competing online advertising platforms.
In January, Microsoft ended a decade-long battle with the Commission by agreeing to give European consumers better access to rival Internet browsers in its Windows operating system.
It has been fined a total 1.68 billion euros ($2.4 billion) for antitrust infringements in Europe.

The Commission can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover for breaching EU rules. It has slapped a record 1.06 billion euros in fine on Intel in the past for abuse of market dominance.

(Editing by Rex Merrifield and David Hulmes)

Friday, December 3, 2010

Push or Pull Marketing Strategies which is right for you?

With the acceleration of the internet as a major marketing tool many clients are looking at their marketing budgets and doing an evaluation of their marketing expenditures.


In a perfect world you may want push out to certain markets while pulling in others.

When you think of push and pull marketing, think of it in terms of a person either getting "pulled" in to see what the seller has to offer or the seller "pushes" out what he has to sell to the buyer.

Let’s review the concept of push and pull marketing:

What is pull marketing?

Pull marketing is where you develop advertising and promotional strategies that are meant to entice the prospect to buy your product or service.

Some classic examples are "half off!" or "bring in this coupon to save 25%" or "buy one get one free" or creating a blog with free information. Give away an eBook to access to an email address or speaking at an event. With pull marketing, you are creating urgency or creating a sense of increased time limited value so that the customer will come into your store to buy now.

So what are the pull marketing tactics you can employ to achieve this?

Blogging – blogging is one of the best marketing avenues at your disposal. Not only does it provide you with a way of increasing your brand exposure and trust but it also allows you to connect more deeply with your audience.

Social Media Marketing – social media allows you to engage with others online. It is the sharing of content, opinion and insight with the folks within your online following and friends. Twitter is an example of a social media service that relies on pull marketing extensively. People follow the conversations that interest them.

Build Community – build a sense of community around your business and people will return. Give people the opportunity to communicate with other like minded individuals and they will return to your business to do so – and indeed identify you as a leader in your industry.

Email Newsletters – offering additional information by way of an email newsletter is another great way to provide value to customers. It is a great way to educate your clients on the services that you offer and helps you stand out from the crowd.

Public Speaking – being seen is a great way to increase your authority. This is where you want to be, as having knowledge initiates questions from the less knowledgeable – and this leads to business.

What is push marketing?

Push marketing is the practice of ‘pushing’ your product towards an audience that may or may not know about it. Traditional advertising leaflets that drop through your letterbox or sales letters, advertising on TV, Radio and newspapers or cold calls.

All of these are examples of push marketing. Think about the last time you received a leaflet in the post. Was it relevant to you? Did you keep it or throw it out? Push marketing only gets results if the timing is right, and if the product or service caters to recipients needs.

Examples of some push marketing tactics you could use to generate awareness of your product:

Paid Advertising - There are many types of paid advertising available and their goal is largely the same: to obtain traffic that will hopefully convert into customers or leads

Create and Maintain an Email List. You should always aim to build an email list for both potential buyers and existing customers. This allows you to push information out to your customers in a very cost-effective way to generate sales.

Joint Venture with other Businesses - This is a variation of paid advertising. Offer to pay partners a referral fee if they refer prospects to your business. Non-profit communities or online associations are a good place to set up referral networks.

When deciding whether to pull or push you should consider that "pull" marketing lets a company focus on the development of the brand. "Pull" marketing wants to create loyal supporters by setting a certain standard for their brand. While "push" marketing is more concerned with short-term results

Both push and pull marketing strategies work well to achieve specific goals. An experienced marketing professional can help you integrate both strategies in a long term marketing plan which will be an effective way to promote any business or website and Build Your Business.

Fore more information contact:
Donald Robichaud
FloodLight Consulting
Build Your Business
Email
250-768-9415
http://www.floodlightconsulting.com/
http://donaldrobichaud.blogspot.com/

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