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What Bellwether really tells us about the industry
While all sectors of marketing have seen budget cuts in the second quarter, with the exception of the Internet, direct marketing has seen the longest period of sustained budget trimming compared to any other medium, according to the Bellwether Report 2008. The report cites disappointing sales, rising costs and growing economic gloom as the reason for companies cutting budgets, as well as the decline in direct budgets due to companies migrating from post to email to cut costs.
However, as clients tighten their purse-strings but continue to increase spending on digital marketing, the direct marketing industry will become even more cost effective and accountable, says Mark Runacus, chief strategy officer, HS&P and member of IPA DM Futures Group.
He comments: "It's rare to find a good direct agency that doesn't view offline and online as part of the same discipline and, in fact, this migration has made our work more cost effective, so it's perfectly reasonable that we would see spend reflect that.
Internet marketing 'to become more popular among hotels'
Internet marketing strategies will become increasingly commonplace among hotels and other travel organisations in the near future, according to one expert.Speaking in an interview with Eyefortravel.com, Barbara Pezzi, director of web marketing and e-commerce for Swissotel Hotels & Resorts, said that more hotels will look towards online marketing tools and the link between search and social media to enhance their brands and increase revenue.Explaining Swissotel's search engine marketing strategy, she stated that the company has recently adopted a new search engine optimisation strategy to coincide with a redesign of its website, m-travel.com reports.Ms Pezzi also predicted that pay-per-click will remain a vital part of internet marketing for the foreseeable feature, although mobile search, social networks, rich media and mobile ads will also play a bigger part."We hoteliers, apart from few exceptions, have been quite slow to embrace Web 2.0.
Bad PPC good PPC
One expert is warning businesses that use pay per click (PPC) as part of their internet marketing strategy need to be wary of encroaching on competitor brands. Writing on the Pay Per Click Journal, the Brick Marketing blog has posted notes that many PPC marketers run a high risk of being deceptive. That fine line being crossed is the one that divides acceptable search engine marketing PPC and deception by using ads that make it sound like it is associated with a competitor when it isn't. That's deception. However, using a competitor's brand to draw attention to an ad, while making it clear that what's on offer is an alternative, is not. Known as “scam ads" or “scads," these deceptive search engine-marketing techniques often involve rival company's bidding for competitor PPC keywords through the search engines and linking through to irrelevant sites.
Levert Marketing Goes Social
Since launching its new corporate website last June, the Internet marketing company from Hamilton, ON has been working on solidifying its online presence and is now taking another step forward going social. Since the beginning of August, Levert Marketing has been opening accounts and networking on popular social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and MyBlogLog. Business contacts, colleagues and potential customers can now communicate and exchange ideas with the Levert Marketing team in a way that was not possible before. “Since launching our new website, things have been going pretty much as expected", says founder Frank Levert. “It's been a lot of work but we have been gaining ground in all major search engines and are now at the point where we can start interacting a little more with people and let them know what Levert Marketing is all about".
Music Choice Taps Atrinsic for New Interactive Feature
Atrinsic brings together the power of the Internet, the latest in mobile technology, and traditional marketing/advertising methodologies, creating a fully integrated vehicle for both entertainment content and brand-based and performance advertising. Entertainment content is organized into four strategic services -- digital music, casual games, sweepstakes, and community and lifestyle. Brands include Altnet, a mobile legal music download service featuring original artists, GatorArcade, a premium online and mobile gaming site, Bid4Prizes, a low-bid mobile auction game, and iMatchUp, one of the first integrated web-mobile dating services. Feature-rich advertising services include a mobile ad network, extensive search capabilities, e-mail marketing, one of the biggest publisher networks around at 8000+ and growing, and proprietary entertainment content.
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Banking internet marketing twist from new comparison site
A new social networking site may prove to be a sting in the tail for banks' internet marketing strategies. My Bank Tracker has been launched as a comparison website that allows users to comment and review lenders' product offers and services. The new websites will help "inform and educate in ways that were up until today lacking for traditional institutions such as banks, according to Alex Matjanec, of media & communications at My Bank Tracker. "We're taking the personalisation and social networking movement a step further by leveraging the power of the internet and of consumers," he added. It could also prove the downfall of new online marketing campaigns, because users can comment on the products in real-time. Last week Rhodri Harries, managing director of Kaizo, noted that negative comments on web 2.0 platforms such as social networking sites can drown out positive online marketing for any brand.
Firms neglect offline and internet marketing integration
Only around half of businesses integrate their internet marketing with offline communications, new research has shown. According to a study by iProspect and JupiterResearch LLC, businesses adopting search engine marketing are "ignoring" an opportunity to benefit from integration. Only 55 per cent of businesses complimented their online marketing with a reference in offline communications. Robert Murray, president of iProspect, explained: "Despite such a clear demonstration of the power of integrating search and offline channels, surprisingly, the strategy has yet to gain widespread adoption. "Unfortunately, by failing to integrate their efforts with offline, search marketers are essentially ignoring the very channels that drive users to search." A study by iProspects in 2007 indicated that two thirds (67 per cent) of search engine users are driven to online marketing as a result an offline channel trigger.
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