June 19, 2013
This year, many marketers' lead prospecting aims are focused primarily on finding new customers, while relatively few are looking only to retain current or reactivate former customers, according to Chief Marketer's 2013 Prospecting Survey [download page]. Marketers are ramping up their use of prospecting tools across the board, and while email remains the most common prospecting channel (86.7% using this year), some of the biggest changes are reserved for content marketing, retargeted ads, and website registration/opt-in. Read more »
June 19, 2013
The biggest change in how small businesses go about their work this year as opposed to 5 years ago is through their use - or increased use - of online marketing tools, according to results from a survey sponsored by Constant Contact. Indeed, compared to 5 years ago, the adoption of various online marketing tools has soared: 98% of survey respondents now use email marketing (up from 64% saying they used them 5 years ago), while 87% use social media marketing (up from just 10% 5 years ago). And while finding new customers remains the chief concern for small businesses today, among those who are finding this task easier, a leading 53% say that's due to more affordable online marketing tools. Read more »
June 18, 2013
The portrait of the tech-obsessed college student may have some grounding in reality. According to the latest College Explorer study from re:fuel, the average 18-34-year-old college student owns 7 tech devices (6.9 to be precise), up from 6.4 last year. The laptop computer is the most commonly owned device, by 85% of the college student population, with smartphone penetration nearing 70% and tablets (36%) more widespread than cell phones (33%). Video game consoles are also popular, owned by roughly two-thirds of the representative sample of college students. Read more »
June 18, 2013
Online ad spending around the world is projected to grow by 13.4% to reach $113.6 billion this year, according to a revised forecast issued by MAGNA GLOBAL that takes a more bullish view of online spending this year than its previous forecast. Another new forecast, from ZenithOptimedia, projects a 15% annual increase in online spending between this year and 2015. Both groups see strong growth for social and mobile advertising around the world. Read more »
June 17, 2013
After a big jump last year, discretionary spending by college students is expected to remain largely flat this year at $117 billion, per the latest College Explorer report from re:fuel. That remains significantly above discretionary spending power from 2009-2011, though, which stood at roughly $90 billion. Factoring in $287 billion in non-discretionary spending (on items such as room and board, tuition), the total college market's spending power is estimated to be $404 billion this year, down only slightly from last year's $409 billion. Read more »
June 17, 2013
Media and entertainment executives from around the world feel that digital is about to become their primary source of revenue, details Ernst & Young in a new report. Digital's share of top-line revenue is expected to grow from 47% on average this year to 57% by 2015, a more bullish forecast than given recently by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which also noted a shift to digital spending and revenues. In order to digitally transform their organizations, most respondents cite the creation of a culture of innovation as one of their top strategic priorities. Read more »
June 14, 2013
Measuring and evaluating campaign effectiveness is the top challenge when running multi-screen video advertising campaigns, according to [download page] recently-released results from a Mixpo survey. The survey - of more than 300 industry professionals across agencies, media companies, and ad tech entities - indicated that perceptions regarding which metric is most important vary. While completion rate (with a rating average of 2.56, where 1 is most important) shows up as the most important metric, brand uplift (2.69) is close behind in value. View rate (3.14), click-through rate (3.18) and time spent viewing (3.43) also received some first place votes. Read more »
June 12, 2013
Omnichannel marketing efforts can drive significant value in enhancing brand identity and recognition, according to [pdf] a group of 120 executive-level though leaders across advertising, marketing, media and technology industries surveyed by the Winterberry Group in partnership with the IAB. Referring to omnichannel strategies as those "which seek to promote a long-term, channel-agnostic approach to managing and optimizing" the consumer-marketer relationship, the study finds that respondents were most likely to recognize stronger brand identity/recognition as a benefit of the successful application of an omnichannel approach, giving it a score of 3.37 on a 4-point scale (where 4 refers to a frequent benefit, and 0 to a lack of benefit). Read more »
June 11, 2013
Total US spending related to Father's Day (Sunday, June 16, 2013) should reach almost $13.3 billion this year, per results from a National Retail Federation (NRF) and BIGinsight survey. That would mark a 4.5% rise from a projected $12.7 billion last year. While the percentage of adults planning to celebrate Father's Day is relatively flat, at 77.7%, the average celebrant will increase spending by a couple of dollars, to roughly $120. By comparison, Mother's Day spending was expected to reach about $20 billion this year, with the average celebrant shelling out $169. Read more »
June 6, 2013
PwC has issued its annual "Entertainment & Media Outlook" report, which contains projections for online and offline media markets through 2017 across various components including advertising revenues and consumer spending. The outlook for traditional media markets is similar to previous forecasts in that TV and out-of-home advertising have the healthiest future, while radio continues to grow at a modest pace and the outlook for print continues to be dim, although losses may slow. Read more »
