The Wizard of Ads® Partners Present... The Portal of Canadian Small Business
The Canadian Small Business information portal is designed to link you to the best business related stories and content on the web, brought to you by the Wizard of Ads Partners. Wizard of Ads, Inc.® is a research and consulting organization with branch offices in Canada, the United States, Central America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Our contributing editors are available as instructors and consultants to help you achieve your advertising and marketing objectives. As a visitor you can share stories with digg, DEL.ICIO.US, and Technorati.
Radio has long fended off all comers when it comes to dominating the advertising space that exists within the confines of the private automobile. But a new competitor is getting ready to enter the market, bringing with it unique targeting ability – the GPS system.
The push is coming for GPS data-provider NAVTEQ, which feeds the information to GPS systems that allows them to do what they do. If the GPS is ad-enabled, NAVTEQ can target ads to the occupants on the vehicle based on location, context and user demographic information.
It conducted a survey of those owning an ad-enable GPS system, and found that 19% of those who noticed an ad clicked onto it for further information, and 6% actually visited a business establishment as a result of the ad.
The system, LocationPoint™ alerts a driver to the fact that they are in the proximity of, say, a fast food restaurant. It can also get coupons and other promotional material to the occupants.
Of the 757 people surveyed, 72% said the ads were an acceptable part of the GPS experience.
"This type of advertising reaches out and finds a consumer when they're most open to making purchase decisions," says NAVTEQ sales exec David Klein, "It's a vehicle that grabs the attention of a consumer near point of purchase and as the technology matures, it will offer increasing opportunities to interact with the consumer in ways that will deliver substantial benefits to advertisers."
I thought you might find this article from Radio Sales Today, espousing the use of Online Video to increase Brand Awarenesss and Online Ad Awarness interesting. We have a number of Wizard Partners that can give you more insight on its pros and cons.
You'll find some of them at our next Wizards on the Road seminar in Richmond, Virginia -- September 23 & 24, 2009. Why don't you join us?
jane
Online Video Increasing
The Center For Media Research released findings that online video increases
advertising effectiveness.
Research released by Dynamic Logic reveals that ads integrated into the content of the
page are the most effective in driving online ad awareness and purchase intent.
Based on 2,390 online display campaigns that took place over the past three years, the
study found that half-banners and rectangles were more effective than ads that frame
the page such as leaderboards and skyscrapers.
The study went on to show rich media created the strongest brand impact.
Change in Brand Impact by Type of Format (% Delta vs. Fixed Frequency Level=1)
Delta Performance by Ad Format (* = No Significant Effect)
Brand Measurement Rich media w video Rich Media w/o Video Simple Flash
Aided brand awareness 1.9 0.9 0.4
Online ad awareness 2.6 2.1 2.2
Message association * 0.7 1.0
Brand favorability 2.3 0.5 *
Purchase intent 1.2 0.5 *
Source: Dynamic Logic MarketNorms, July 2009 (Numbers are % impact change vs. exposed control)
Included in the report, Dynamic Logic offers some guidelines for advertisers and agencies based on the findings:
• Try delivering a Rich Media with Video ad as the first ad exposure to addressable online audience.
• On a tight budget, select less expensive formats and consider frequency capping to extend reach.
• Factor media fees and rich media fees in together and optimize the most effective formats.
• For message association goals, consider adding the message to every frame of the ad for best results.
• For every branding goal studied, a different rich media format was better than Simple Flash at getting results.
(Source: The Center For Media Research, 09/01/09. Links: www.sears.com; www.arrivelounge.com)
It appears that most of the agencies who advertise during online television programming have decided that their ads have to “do that interactive stuff” to be effective. Maybe it's their attempt to measure the impact of their marketing efforts. Maybe they don't think it's important for their clickable commercials to engage viewers with something they care about. They're using the interactive internet backwards.
Watching old episodes of “Lost” provided me with my first example of interaction without engagement. When the commercial break came, a car started driving through New York, but stopped after 5 seconds. A number of opportunities for me to “learn more” about the car's different features popped up. “Why in the world would I want click on those links to find out about this car?” I thought. I was afraid they might take me to another website and force me to lose the progress of my episode. No way was I going to interact.
The next opportunity for interactivity turned out to be a Sprint ad. It was Christmas, and Sprint figured that I'd be engaged by wanting to decorate a gingerbread man with the different possible colors and decorating tools they offered. It might have said something about Sprint's cellphone plans, but I don't remember. What I do remember is that the decorating cools were so difficult to use I couldn't get anything to happen by the time the 30 second break was over. I felt frustrated, kind of like I do when dealing with Sprint's customer service.
Sprint not only didn't learn from its mistaken attempt at internet advertising, it continued to offer different variations of difficult to operate games. One was a tree decorating thing that didn't work well. My favorite was a snowball fight where I had to adjust the angle and throwing distance perfectly to hit the computer before the computer knocked my character down. If I hadn't been so stinking competitive I would have never figured out the tiny, magic part of the screen that could hit the computer's character. Even then I could rarely win. There wasn't even a prize or coupon for playing! The message? When dealing with Sprint, they always win and you get nothing.
Lost on all these advertisers is the simple fact that I don't interact one bit while watching the programming I've chosen. The content of the program engages me without my clicking of any buttons. I only interacted in order to navigate my way there. I could care less about answering a Lexus or Stouffer's quiz to tell them what just happened in their commercial. Will someone tell me something about themselves that I care about?
I've seen one internet commercial that I liked. It was made by Target, played cool music and told me about an upcoming sale and all the quality merchandise they had in the store. I had no need to get anything at Target, but I watched the commercial and thought about how much more I liked Target than Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, they played that commercial at every break. By the time my show was over I didn't want to ever hear that commercial again.
Engaging the viewer with the power of your message and finding new ways to repeat that message will always be the number one priority of advertising. It doesn't matter how much technology changes the vehicle with which it's delivered. If you can't communicate something the audience cares about you might as well use your dollars to provide enjoyable content and just say “sponsored commercial free by...” That at least would communicate the message that your company understands that what I want most of all is to watch an interesting program without too many annoying distractions.
Every time the Garden Center Group calls to hire me as a speaker for their annual fall convention, I’m compelled to ask, “Aren’t you guys sick of me yet?” But secretly, I’m always delighted to get the call.
Over the years, I have taught members of the group about the financial efficiency of advertising on the radio vs. other forms of media. I’ve given workshops where individuals learn how to write different kinds of copy to different female customer segments. And last fall, I plunged them headfirst into the deep end of social media, introducing them to the power of Facebook.
What I love about the Garden Center Group is that no matter what topic I choose, the attendees are like sponges. And they don’t just listen – they DO.
After our last workshop, Larry and Frances Grossman returned to Rochester and immediately set up a Facebook page for their business. Ever the long-term vision type of folks, they took the “build it slowly” perspective. Visit their Facebook page and you find a commitment to fans that few local businesses provide – direct contact with customers; blog posts on gardening tips; photo albums of gardens and “before/after” shots; even videos of on-site events.
I emailed Larry, asking how it was going for them in this economy. Here’s an excerpt of his reply after a recent, highly successful event that grossed them tens of thousands of dollars over what was expected: “Retail sales are keeping pace with last year, people love the LG connection on the business side along with the blog tied in to both the website and Facebook. Day to day I head up Design/Build and am booked out to mid July; again my connection to the customer…
And from a profit perspective, traditional advertising expense is way down from last year. We don’t do paper ads. Nothing has been on sale either. Gotta love sending the dollars to my bottom line instead of slinging mud against the wall. HooAh!”
If you’re on Facebook, look up Grossman’s Country Nursery and see how they’re using social media to not only benefit the bottom line, but also create a lifetime connection with their customers.
Not interested in Facebook? Then you might want to consider picking up your marbles - I think I hear your mother calling.
Although I usually caution against the unthinking application of "best practices" in Website design, I know that there are whole lot of small businesses looking for solid rules of thumb.
So with that in mind, I'd suggest you take a look at Dr. Pete's layout guide/template for websites. Hard to go wrong following this one...
Watch this 4:32 minute video by Dr. Michael Wesch at least twice for another perspectice of what Web 2.0 is.
Pet it. Groom it. Take care of it. Yes, there are responsibilities involved but it’s fun to play with and cuddle up with. Memories will be made, frustrations will be had, relationships will be garnished. You just have to get your hands a little dirty.
The phrase Web 2.0 is simply a taxonomy of the web. The phrase means the world wide web is growing up. It’s changing as it learns from us as we learn from it.
The advantages of Web 2.0 is you have near near direct contact with your current and potential customers but, on their terms. You can live in the day of the life of (insert customer name here). You can:
Understand their heart felt needs
Learn what matters most to them
Learn what influences their buying decisions
Discover what products work and don’t work for them and why
But, you have to participate to learn. What are you doing? How are you using the adolescent-like web? Are you:
Using Facebook?
Using Twitter?
Consistently posting to a blog?
Using email newsletters?
Mining emails you receive through your website?
There is a lot of information to be gained by listening to your customers. You can actively participate in their lives and have conversations with them.
Just as you’d take care of a new family pet, play with them, train them, wash, rinse, and repeat, Web 2.0 can bring you a great amount of joy, insight, and wealth. You just have to participate.
I hate to say it, but somebody has to: Satellite radio will come crashing down to Earth within the next two years. The newly merged Sirius XM Radio is already living on borrowed time -- and borrowed money -- and simply will not and cannot survive.
First of all, I'm not an anti-satellite guy. I don't want satellite radio to end (partly because I have a lifetime subscription). My family has two subscriptions in all, and I listen to satellite all the time. But reality is working against both the Sirius XM Radio company, and the idea of radio delivered by satellite.
As a competitor to radio, satellite rules. It has most of the advantages as radio, namely that it's easy to use, it's in the car and it has content you can't get elsewhere (Howard Stern, for example). Plus, it has qualities regular radio doesn't have: better sound quality, far more content and focused channels, like the Elvis Channel. Satellite radio isn't remaining static, either. It's evolving into something better than what it used to be. The devices are becoming better and smaller, and gaining great features, such as the ability to "TiVo" programs.
Unfortunately, however, the rest of the world is evolving, too. Six trends will kill satellite radio:
1.) The rise of MP3 phones. Cell phones in general, and the iPhone in particular, are mainstreaming the idea of listening to music on a cell phone. Because people carry cell phones everywhere, including in the car and other places where current subscribers listen to satellite radio, every phone is now a direct competitor to satellite radio.
2.) The rise of MP3-compatible cars. When satellite radio first hit, it was very difficult to listen to an iPod in a car. Now, it's becoming very easy, with dashboards either containing MP3 players or supporting them with jacks.
3.) The coming wave of mobile broadband dashboards. Cars are increasingly getting cell phone wireless connectivity built in to the dash, starting with the same high-end automobile categories that are most likely to offer satellite radios -- and targeting the same kinds of car buyers: audiophiles with money. Once your car is on the Internet all the time, iTunes (or something like it) becomes the Mother of All replacements for satellite radio.
4.) The rise of podcasting. This "talk radio" delivery system has been very slow to take off, but it has been growing and will continue to grow unabated. The difference between the growth of satellite radio and the growth of podcasting is that podcasting doesn't depend on the marketing of one company, or an expensive delivery system. It's free.
Related Articles
· Techology for Tough Times
· The Year of Living the OpenSocial
· Review: T-Mobile G1 - A Good First Effort
· Roundup: The Best iPhone Apps of the Week
5.) The rise of live podcasting. Most podcasts are better served asynchronously. But for news and games, live is superior. And that was a huge advantage of radio -- satellite or otherwise -- over podcasts. But sites like BlogTalkRadio are changing all that, and podcasting is quickly turning into a medium where shows are broadcast live, then made available as a download forever.
6.) The economy is "cratering." The stake in the heart of satellite radio, the looming recession, will finish off the Sirius XM Radio company -- and the concept of satellite radio -- forever. How bad is the economy for Sirius XM? Let me count the ways.
First, understand that Sirius XM has $3.4 billion in long-term debt, $1 billion of which is due next year -- $300 million of that due by February. The company racked up this debt during an economic boom. We are now entering a bust. How will Sirius XM get out of this fix? The current plan appears to be little more than creative debt refinancing -- this in the most hostile credit market ever -- to buy time for some unspecified future miracle.
Satellite radio depends almost entirely on subscription revenue. The biggest source of new subscribers has been new-car buyers. Unfortunately, the downturn has not only radically cut car sales, but is reducing the percentage of new cars that have the fancy satellite radio upgrade (compared with pre-recession projections). The biggest channel for satellite radio is -- or was -- GM, which has recently suffered a 45% reduction in new-car sales. Other car companies are looking at reductions of between 20% and 30%. And that's now, before the recession has really even begun. Sirius XM Radio hasn't released recent sales figures, but it's likely that lucrative new-car subscriptions have decreased by at least 40% in the past couple of months.
One advantage Sirius has is Howard Stern. But Stern is also a disadvantage because he gets paid $100 million per year. As the Sirius ship starts to sink, and the board starts looking for cargo to throw overboard, Stern and his giant salary will be the first to go. As the King of All Media, and with a fiercely loyal following, Stern will probably go on to mainstream the concept of subscription-based podcasting. Why? Because Stern is tired of being jerked around first by the FCC, then by the old-and-busted radio industry, and now by the financial unsustainability of satellite radio. A subscription podcast would finally put Stern in complete control of his show.
The ugly truth is that satellite is simply an obsolete way to deliver sound. It's nothing more than an insanely expensive, limited, proprietary content delivery system that increasingly competes head-to-head against the Internet itself. The monopoly that provides satellite radio is billions in debt, with no way to pay off that debt and a looming recession characterized by dramatic slowdowns in consumer spending.
Are you becoming Internet savvy? (Savvy: Well informed and perceptive, practical understanding or shrewdness.)
We may have to do some things we’ve never done before. We are becoming a more and more Internet accessing people. Read Jane Frazier’s Is Your Website Up to Snuff?I am a good example of what Jane is talking about.
I just went to the AT&T store and bought an iPhone. It is an amazing piece of equipment. At the slight touch of my finger in the palm of my hand, is access to my emails, my contact list of friends and clients, pictures of my kids, calculator, Yahoo, Google, any newspaper in the world, any movie I want to watch, a camera that takes great pictures, any songs I want to hear, a GPS System, I have access to my home computer and my laptop, my calendar and appointment book are in sync right there, and I can even make phone calls on the darn thing.
I am going online today to purchase Microsoft Office Professional so I can sync up my emails and calendar with my laptop and iPhone. I’m a guy who just 8 years ago couldn’t type a letter, or use Microsoft Word and had just got my GED in 1990. (I had quit school in the 9th grade to go to Nashville and become a big country music star.) I didn’t even know what email or the Internet was. Today my company builds websites and do we email newsletters.It’s amazing what a person can do if they are willing to change.
Now in 2008, who knew, besides Jesus, that the stock market would crash and gas would be over $5 a gallon? Even when gas was so high this summer, the Internet was booming.
The third quarter 2008 e-commerce estimate increased 5.7 percent (±1.5%) from the third quarter of 2007
The third quarter 2007 e commerce estimate increased 19.3 percent (±2.6%) from the third quarter of 2006
This may be a down time in the economy, the stock market maybe on a Six Flags roller coaster ride, and the auto makers, car sales people and dealers may be in trouble, but the use of the Internet is anything but down. I ran into a woman last week and she told me she lost her job a year ago, because her company got bought out.I asked her what she was doing now. She said, “Ebay”. I said, “How is it going?” She said she was making just as much and sometimes more, as she was before. As the media stokes the fires of fear, in the mind of the folks in our country, the self-sufficient, pioneering, hard-working, can do attitudes of some people will move them ahead and they will do very well; even if they have to do something they have never done before.
Are you willing to do some things you have never done before? Many business owners today need to go back and re-read the little book from a few years ago that sold 21 million copies, Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson. Read about it.
I came across this article this morning and thought that it was something you would want to know about. Thanks for taking time to drop by!
Online Video Is All That Matters. To Some.
21 October, 2008 04:08:00
When I read the obituary of Edie Adams (online, of course), I recalled how much I liked her when I was a kid. And that reminded me of her first husband, the extraordinary TV pioneer Ernie Kovacs. By then, I was in the mood to see Ernie’s famous comedy routine, “The Nairobi Trio.” So I immediately Googled it, which brought me to a grainy black-and-white three-minute video clip on YouTube, featuring the Trio’s indelible tune and pantomime act. (Needless to say, I also wandered through other Kovacs’ video segments and caught a few glimpses of the shapely young Edie Adams of 48 years ago.)
The next morning at my health club, some pals were talking about the clever remarks that John McCain and Barack Obama had made at the white-tie Al Smith banquet in New York. Brief clips were popping up on CNN and the morning TV newscasts. As soon as I reached my office, I clicked onto CSPAN.com, checked the archive and watched the hour-long presentation – or, more honestly, fast-forwarded through the stand-up comedy stylings of our next president and his opponent.
A week later, I “tuned” to Hulu.com to catch the season premiere of my favorite broadcast sitcom, “30 Rock.” It was sort of “appointment viewing.” I put an online video streaming session in my online agenda as soon as NBC announced that the episode would be previewed a week before the actual over-the-air transmission debut. I say “sort of appointment,” since I could catch an online stream of “30 Rock” anytime that week at my convenience.
All of this happened just about the time that NBC confessed that its Saturday Night Live sketches featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin were getting more views via the NBC.com website than the on the record-setting real-time telecasts.
This is TV on the Web.
As these video choices suggest, I am not in the “Generation Y” demographic that is lapping up Web video. But, as several studies have shown, viewers of all ages are opting for the online video experience. An October study for Veoh Networks found that more than 40% of people who watch at least an hour per week of online video are aged 35 or older – including 13% over the age of 55. Veoh’s study, conducted by Forrester Research, was subtitled, “How Online Video Engages Audiences.”
That’s what NBC was hoping in its advance streaming of “30 Rock”: that it would generate buzz and word of mouth to encourage on-air viewing and cement allegiance to the show.
Right now, online video is still a work in progress with much of the chaos – and dreams – that Ernie Kovacs must have encountered in TV business of the 1950s and early ’60s. Beyond the battleground about copyrights are structural decisions about “short-form” and “long-form” content, the role of user-generated content and viewing quality. To television purists who insist on the high-quality displays for the Digital TV era, online video’s limited bandwidth seems irrelevant. But as an online video purveyor – from a venture called YouNewsTV – told me, “Viewers are willing to watch gritty videos; they accept them as more authentic.”
Predictably, there’s an avalanche of research about online video usage, especially as everyone in the value chain tries to figure out if/how/when this will become as big as advocates believe. For example, an eMarketer forecast puts online video advertising at $5.8 billion by 2013, an 11-fold increase from today’s half-billion dollar level.
Integrated Media Measurement Inc. says that in Spring, 20% of its 3,200-person panel watched some prime-time network TV online, up from about 6% last autumn. An NPD Group survey of digital media consumers found that 70% had purchased content on iTunes, the most popular source of video downloads, in the past three months.
An ABI Research study identified that the number of Americans watching video via computers has doubled during the past year, from 32% to 63% of the population, across all age brackets but especially among young viewers. ABI also found that the “frequency and duration of … online video consumption” is increasing rapidly.
Indeed, a Frank N. Magid Associates study found that 28% of respondents who watch online video said that they watch less traditional TV as a result. The same Magid research also confirmed the snack-sized preferences to today’s early online adopters, who lean overwhelmingly towards short videos such as comedy/joke segments, music videos, user-generated content and news stories or movie trailers. At least 25% of online viewers tuned into one or more of those categories, while barely 15% said they looked at full-length movies online (although that is still a sizeable audience.)
Overall, online video viewing is still measured in the hours per month (about 4 hours in most age groups), rather than hours per day (also about 4) that broadcasting and cable channels collectively capture eyeballs. But it is not impossible to expect, as one researcher envisioned, that the up-and-coming generation will watch a majority of video entertainment via online distribution. He said they may develop habits “that will mean drastic changes for the video entertainment market.”
Such forecasts have been part of the “new media” landscape for more than a decade, prompting veterans to dismiss the threatened migration is blips on the screen. To be sure, the confusing array of webcast, downloading and streaming options make online video a lot harder than simple TV-set channel surfing.
But there is no way to ignore that for almost all demographics, there is something worth watching online – enough to shift attention from the “regular” TV set. The advance of TV on the Web is trickling in through multiple faucets, beyond the Hulu, Vudu and YouTube pipeline. The Netflix + Roku deal and the Tivo + Amazon arrangement represent the experimentation that is taking place. Rival distributors, including programmers and broadcasters, are trying to figure out how viewers want to receive big-screen programming. Sometimes, it doesn’t work, exemplified when Starz abandoned its Vongo service. (Although Starz, part of the Liberty Media empire, is back into online video via other avenues.)
And field trials continue on many other platforms. Sony Pictures Entertainment is running 11 original online series on its Crackle.com site. PrimeTimeRewind.tv envisions offering a variety of recent network shows. And we’re just beginning to appreciate the opportunities in mobile online video as ventures from mobi.tv and other purveyors reach us anytime/anywhere on handheld receivers, a/k/a phone handsets.
Whether it’s timely or historic material – an overlooked new sitcom episode, the President’s speech last night or a memorable Nairobi Trio moment – viewers are heading online. The only unknowns are how many, how soon – and how to monetize that migration.
From: Radio Business Report/Television Business Report – Voice of Broadcast Industry
15 July, 2008 10:45:00
Despite the growing array of other sources, a survey of online music users by JupiterResearch finds that radio is still the “most powerful means of music discovery.” Even among the 8% classified as trend setters because of their influence over other music users, radio, at 59%, is second only to recommendations from friends, 62%, in introducing them to new music.
“For the general population as well as music influencers, you can see that radio is the most important way of discovering new music – and it has been the most important way of discovering new music in the last few years that we’ve surveyed,” said analyst Sonal Gandhi at JupiterResearch.
For all of the groups in the JupiterResearch/Ipsos Insight Music Consumer Survey of 2,134 online music users, radio was the #1 method of discovering new music. And it was pretty uniform, from a high of 65% for paying downloaders to a low of 62% for music aficionados – and 63% for all those surveyed.
JupiterResearch has been surveying online music users for a number of years. The new report, “Music Influencers: Marketing to an Audience of Trend Setters” focuses on identifying the traits of the small percentage of music users who influence music trends by recommending new music to others.
“Radio remains the most powerful means of music discovery. However, word of mouth plays a much more important role for music fans who use music digitally than it does for overall online consumers, or even for high spenders who do not use digital music. Digital music marketers and programmers should zero in on music influencers,” Gandhi wrote in her report. 49% of music aficionados said they discovered new music through recommendations from friends, while the figure was only 26% overall.
What about those “music influencers” that the research focused on? Gandhi told RBR/TVBR they were self-identified in the survey as saying “friends come to me to find out about new and cool music.” You might expect a higher number, but only 8% of the people surveyed made that claim. They’re very music focused, are interested in multiple genres and spend a median of $200 annually to buy music, double the norm. And while they are most likely to be influenced by the opinions of friends – that 62% figure mentioned previously – 59% said they listen to radio to find new music.
Those radio figures, by the way, refer only to broadcast radio. Online radio is “not very big yet,” Gandhi said. Only 9% of all respondents said they discover new music from online radio. The report also contains data for music discovery at retail stores, music videos on TV and on TV shows.
RBR/TVBR observation: If the Capitol Hill lobbyists at NAB weren’t already aware of this report, you can bet that they will be buying copies to show to Members of Congress and their staffers. RIAA is actively trying to downplay the role of radio in selling its members’ wares. After all, aren’t the members of the online generation so wedded to their iPods that they “never” listen to radio? But this research shows that even online consumers of music are more influenced by radio airplay than anything else in finding new music to listen to and buy.
Read About Jane Fraser
.gif)
It appears that most of the agencies who advertise during online television programming have decided that their ads have to “do that interactive stuff” to be effective. Maybe it's their attempt to measure the impact of their marketing efforts. Maybe they don't think it's important for their clickable commercials to engage viewers with something they care about. They're using the interactive internet backwards.
Every time the 
