Online Advertising Tops £4bn

The internet is now receiving £4bn of your advertising budgets which was a growth of 12.8% in 2010. This increase has out-grown all other marketing channels according to the Internet Advertising Bureau.

Many major brands revisited their normal marketing budgets for 2010 and the online sector had a higher priority. The main area where the online spend was allocated was toward the internet marketing, contributing to the 200% growth in display adverts on social networking websites.

Facebook in particular has made large steps in convincing businesses and marketing decision makers that large gains can be made from social media and networks showing their ads. Let’s not forget that 25% of online usage is spent on social network websites like Facebook. This is a captured market that advertisers are keen to be seen in.

In addition to the social network growth, there has been another new development. Video advertising has also doubled in 2010 with a very significant £54m investment ensuring that short ads appear at the beginning, the end and also during chosen video clips. This is already being shown on video galleries’ such as Youtube.com.

Mobile advertising has also climbed up the priority list with firms trying to catch people that are on the move and not sat in front of a PC. The mobile market seems to highlight Finance News, telecoms, consumer’s brands and apps as the big four. 

Search Engine Advertising as we know is dominated by Google and still remains the largest beneficiary with Google’s latest increase of 8%. A possible reason for this is that search is still the most targeted for in marketing. Despite this, TV ads are beginning to climb out of a very dull patch unlike the press ads that are still suffering as internet users can access news and sports results on their mobiles instead of the local or national newspaper. Even classified ads, that were once the revenue engine for many newspapers has almost completed its migration to online.

As the Smartphone and mobile internet come together to deliver the ultimate user platform, online spend is set to increase. Include the installation of super fast broadband and talks to increase more UK Wi-Fi spots, isl online marketing set replace all other channels.

Big Brands are Beginning to Shun the Apple iPad

Digital marketers and media agencies are refusing to risk heavy investment for advertising on the iPad because publishing prices are too high and there aren’t sufficient download figures available.

Media agencies with high-end magazine clients are now shunning commercial opportunities on the iPad due to inaccurate download figures, inadequate reporting and high production costs.

This is not good news for Apple given that the iPad was only released 6 months ago and the release of the iPad2 is imminent.

Because Apple keeps a tight grip on content, publishers are restricted in what they can provide advertisers with.  This has resulted in investment being stifled and compounded brand confusion.  Due to the lack of reporting from Apple, publishers have had to create their own reporting systems for the device.

One major brand currently using the iPad for advertising is Toyota.  Brand communications manager at Toyota, Lisa Fielden, said:

“Media costs for iPad campaigns are about twice the production costs. If we had this across the rest of our marketing, we wouldn’t see any return.”

“We need to get to a wider audience and to access different target markets, such as young women, or buy a specific audience. I don’t want to just buy a broadcast audience,” she added.

It looks like we will have to wait for the iPad2 to be revealed later today to see if Apple has also made any inroads into addressing this problem.

Kenyan Film Industry Turn To Digital Marketing

The Kenyan film industry is about to use online marketing in an effort to attract higher exposure with the public.

African news publisher, Business Daily, advised that the African government is creating a new portal to enable the Kenyan Tourist Board to show off what products they have to offer.

Business Daily also said the increased popularity of mobile web devices has seen a huge rise in mobile web use in the country.

IT professional, Moses Simiyu said: “The ongoing transition to digital technologies that increases processing power and storage capacities of consumers will be instrumental in its success.”

This is a similar move to Visit Savannah which recently undertook various efforts to attract publicity via online marketing.

Kenya should also consider using SEO services to increase their presence.

Smartphone Sales Encourage Mobile Marketing

As mentioned in previous Storm Marketing blogs, now is the time get on board with mobile marketing as the sales of smartphones continue to increase.

Leading information and technology research and advisory company, Gartner, recently advised that there was 72.1% growth in smartphones during 2010.

If this isn’t enough to get the attention of marketers we don’t know what is.  Companies need to visit their SEO strategies to cater for mobile marketing.

Carolina Milanese, research vice-president at Gartner, said: “Strong smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 pushed Apple and Research In Motion up in our 2010 worldwide ranking of mobile device manufacturers to the number five and number four positions respectively.”

Research In Motion (RIM) are the company responsible for producing all the BlackBerry devices which are rivals to Apple’s iPhone.

In a recent survey undertaken by the Association of National Advertisers and the Mobile Marketing Association, 75% of digital marketers have plans to increase their investment in mobile marketing.

Increase ROI with New Marketing Methods

Businesses need to identify the significance of new marketing strategies to ensure they get the greatest return on investment (ROI).

In a recent piece by Search Engine Land, it was suggested that established metrics such as customer attitudes, sales and brand awareness are no longer sufficient on their own.

Companies need to consider using PPC services and other new methods to stay ahead of the game.

The article advises that customer lifetime value is now considered one of the better ways to measure long term ROI.  It went on to advise what the worth of a customer is for the lifetime of their association with the marketer in monetary terms.

Daily newspaper, Columbia Tribune recently considered the benefits of digital marketing and highlighted the importance for businesses to develop a stable reputation over time.

It takes time to build up a good relationship with consumers but it is worth it in the long term.

SEO does not happen overnight!

Companies need to understand that SEO campaigns don’t happen overnight and they will take some time to come to fruition.  In simple terms, they are a long term investment.

It’s known that many businesses are reluctant to put too much funding into SEO services because the results don’t appear instantly.  Some companies have even pulled their funding thinking the SEO strategy isn’t giving anything to their brand.  SEO is not something that happens instantly but it’s a vital investment.

In a recent article by Search Engine Watch they warned:  ”Frequently, the efforts of a SEO campaign can take 12-18 months, especially for new domains.”

The article went on to advise that some managers judge success on a quarterly basis and it’s vital that marketing teams stress how important a good SEO campaign is.

In a recent blog we reported how many businesses are confused by SEO so they stick to the more traditional methods of marketing.

As advised in that article, ignore SEO at your peril, it could well see the demise of your business.

Traditional Businesses need to look at SEO

For businesses that use traditional marketing methods, digital marketing and Search Engine Optimisation can be both daunting and confusing.

In a recent article by Las Vegas Sun, it was suggested that people’s lack of understanding could well lead to many companies ignoring internet marketing opportunities to avoid the challenge of utilising SEO and pay per click (PPC) services.

The article advised: “These hurdles also provide an easy excuse for sitting on the sidelines or posting a web page that is little more than a glorified brochure.”

Businesses cannot afford to avoid internet marketing and employing SEO services is a fantastic way to conquer these concerns and ensure you are doing everything possible to market your products or services.

Unless businesses hurry up and recognise the importance of digital marketing, they could well see the demise of the business and the rise of the competition.

Ignore digital marketing at your peril!

Google’s PPC figures up by 11% in Q3

Google has revealed an 11% increase in total clicks on Google and AdSense during the 3^rd quarter of 2010.

Google revealed the results during its 4^th quarter and fiscal year results and also advised they had a very pleasing 12 months overall.

This type of news indicates that more and more people are buying into online advertising and are employing pay per click (PPC) services to push their products and services to consumers.

CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt advised: “Q4 marked a terrific end to a stellar year.”

Schmidt indicated that the rapid growth of the online economy and product innovation have helped maintain a solid performance.  Another major factor was the emergence o f mobile internet which has gripped all digital marketers.

He added:  ”These results give us the optimism and confidence to invest heavily in future growth.”

Now is the time to start an online business

In a recent article published by the Fontana Herald News, financial analysts claimed that we are coming out of the recession and heading into a new economy that is geared towards online transactions.

Retailers are seeing more online business than ever before, meaning they would be fools not to invest time and money into their digital marketing efforts.

The web and buying online are no longer alien to people as customers of all ages have learnt how to use the internet.  Whilst there are still many that prefer to do physical shopping, there is no denying that online purchasing has gone through the roof and changed peoples shopping habits.

Another attraction for entering into the digital marketing arena is the low financial risks.  Starting an online business requires a smaller amount of money to get up and running.  In fact, many businesses run multiple websites at the same time to generate multiple sources of income.  Just because it costs less, it does not mean e-commerce is less effective than traditional means.

The Herald News printed 11 tips to get an online business up and running:

1.  Create a business plan
2.  Use a flow chart
3.  Hire a good webmaster
4.  Keep it simple
5.  Collect names and email
6.  Optimise for the search engines
7.  Use domain names with keywords
8.  Use videos more than text
9.  Blogs and social network
10.Use banner ads on popular websites
11.Regular networking

Digital Marketing Shouldn’t Relax During The ‘Slow Season’

After the peak shopping season, online advertisers should look to review their digital campaigns if they want to optimise their results.

In a recent article, Search Engine Land said that many digital marketers see this as ‘the slow season.’

Search Engine Land think that this is the ideal time for companies using pay per click (PPC) services to take advantage of consumers who are shopping online.

Within the article, Search Engine Land state: “While it may sound basic to some, many marketers need to be convinced that it is important to continue to advertise and keep their paid search campaigns running during slower times.”

This is a perfect opportunity for competition to take advantage of big brands who are sitting complacently thinking it’s time to relax.

As with our earlier blogs, now is definitely the time for online companies to review their digital campaigns.