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.

Increase SEO with Online Classified Ads

Want to get free visibility for your business?  Then you need to advertise in classified ads. This is a fantastic way to connect with the local market, create visibility and increase sales.   Some of the classified ads websites also allow you to link back to your site meaning extra SEO benefits.

Advertising your products on classified ads sites is a good way to reach out to your local community and is perfect for a small business.  Not only is it very simple and quick to do, it’s usually free.

So what are the benefits of classified ads? Well, most of them are free and can result in a search engine listing.  As mentioned earlier, some ad sites will let you leave a link back to your site.  Not only will this increase your link profile, it will also push the right type of traffic to your site.  The idea is to put relevant content in your advert so search engines understand the background of your domain.

We have listed a handful of the more prominent classified ad sites below:

• www.gumtree.com
• www.ukclassifieds.co.uk
• www.classifieds.co.uk
• www.loot.com
• www.oodle.co.uk

It’s worth remembering that most ads will expire after 90 days but you will usually receive a reminder.

Is your Online Marketing Campaign ASA Compliant?

Should companies that use Facebook and Twitter to advertise have their adverts screened as they already do with traditional media? The advertising that is done offline is monitored by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), but online social media adverts are not. From March/April 2011 both online and offline campaigns will be monitored by the ASA – what impact will that have on a business message or website.

The ASA rules cover all statements on a website that can be interpreted as marketing even if they are not positioned or linked in an advert. Prior to this point, the ASA where only able to check out the content and the intent of paid for ads that were placed online.

Since 2008 the advertising watchdog received in excess of 4,500 reports and queries about appropriate text on websites, but unfortunately they could do nothing about it. The watchdog did notice that the reports and complaints from the online adverts were very similar to the public reports from viewing advertising in TV, National Press and on the Radio. The ASA spokesman stated that this new power will allow them to change and turnover a lot of issues that are put in front of them. The overall rule is that the UK advertising code states that all none paid for statements must not harm, mislead or offend, just like paid for adverts were in the beginning.

The ASA will primarily search for harmful, misleading or offensive details on the .co.uk domains. However, many .com domains will also be reviewed such as Facebook.  The difficultly is that an advert on the internet can be visible for 1 week or 1 minute, cause widespread harm or be misleading (particularly on a sales add), then withdrawn.

User content that is posted such as Facebook is not going to be investigated but the ASA will examine company adverts. If a company ad on a social networking site is in breach of the advertising code, the ASA will incorporate a name and shame process.

However, all intentions so far seem to be in the best possible nature.  The ads have to be clean and appropriate and clear when delivering their message.  However, with Facebook and MySpace growing and companies utilising the massive audience, the enforcement of the code might be difficult. If you are deemed as non compliant the results could be very damaging. There are talks about excluding companies from any advertising medium including search engines and PPC campaigns.

So, ask yourself this, are your marketing messages ASA compliant?

Is Online Marketing effective on a Trial and Error basis?

Marketing is a key aspect when generating brand awareness, and online marketing is a proven way to generate this brand awareness even more.

A key strategy or approach with online marketing is to use a managed PPC campaign. By using search keywords in a monitored way, budgets can be set to achieve sufficient online interest in relation to the keyword efforts.

When the customers and the target audience have been established, the keywords will be incorporated into a campaign to match all criteria.  

But, any PPC campaign to keep the exposure has to be a long term project, to get the full picture. Online marketing will not be affective on a trial and error basis.

Online Marketing Research Essential to Save Money

Businesses eager to get into marketing their company online need to undertake thorough research in order to take advantage of its benefits.

According to Search Engine Land, users of SEO and PPC services should look to do their research before designing and building their websites.

Search Engine and recommends: “Use your data to learn demographics, task completion – or not -, page abandonment and new search terms.”  The article went on to suggest: “Analytics and server logs help uncover mysterious behaviour and traditional usage too.”

The belief is that undertaking such research can save businesses millions in salaries and lost sales.

Internet users have varied habits and needs so it’s a dangerous game to assume that site designers know what customers want and how they will use the site.

Mobile Marketing is not in Full Swing Yet!

As we have discussed in previous blogs, mobile marketing is set to rocket even more this year as more and more companies wise up to its potential.

This is also the opinion of president and chief executive officer of the Association of National Advertisers, Bob Liodice.  Liodice spoke following the release of a survey which was done in conjunction with the Mobile Marketing Association.

Mr Liodice believes the findings of the survey should interest businesses who are looking to expand in the mobile internet marketing sector: “Mobile is clearly a fast-growing platform for marketers, but it has yet to attain its full potential.”

He went on to say: “We expect to see fresh, innovative approaches, increased brand-building success and better accountability for this exciting channel.”

The survey revealed that 88% of online marketers intend to begin or expand their use of mobile marketing during 2011, with 75% planning to increase their spending by 59% compared to last year.

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.

As 2010 leaves our modern day, what new technical challenges and concepts might we face in 2011?

One aspect of technology that might influence our new 2011 year is the NFC. An NFC is a Near Field Communication device. At this stage, probably something that not many people have heard of. Is this new communication device on our planet now? Yes, in London, the Oyster card (which is a travel card) uses the same system.

The same system may be included into the iPhone 5 and this will be a significant step as the smartphone, online trends and Apple develop this technology. But what else excluding the Oyster Travel Card can be improved by this system? Well, it will mean that your phone/device can pretend to be a credit card as well.

When looking back briefly at the 2010 year, a key new area in business and technology was the social media and online marketing segment. This new area was and still is, littered with emphasis to generate followers, fans and online friends. This then creates a new channel of communication that suits the user. This trend is set to continue.

Some new technology is, oddly enough, a friend to some people but no to others. The companies that seriously consider enabling this technology within the business will create new revenue channels.

 However there is a risk element with so many new ideas and innovations particularly when including mobile internet and the access to so many WiFi sites, mainly in security to company or personal data. With more methods to be online via more and more handheld devices, office networks and home routers may highlight potential weak points.

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.”