123 eGuides

1 Minute Advice: The Coming Digital Shift in Marketing

While the shift to a digital media world has been coming for some time, television has remained the advertising leader because of its vaunted most-watched status. Marketers should be prepared, though, for a major advertising shift in the next four years that will challenge television's top position.

The new Global Entertainment and Media Outlook report from PwC projects that, by 2019, digital advertising will surpass television advertising, with a major emphasis on mobile:

"...the clear direction of travel is toward digital - a fact underlined by Internet advertising’s position as the fastest-growing segment of advertising through to 2019, overtaking global broadcast TV advertising. By that year, digital advertising as a whole - including digital out-of-home - will account for 38.7% of total global advertising revenue, up from just 16.6% in 2010. A primary driver of digital advertising throughout the forecast period will be rapid rises in mobile and video Internet advertising. Mobile Internet advertising will surge at a 23.1% CAGR to 2019, overtaking display Internet advertising globally in 2018, and supplanting paid search in the US in 2016 as the leading Internet advertising category. And video advertising spend globally will rise at a CAGR of 19.5%, supported by a near-doubling of global smartphone connections to 3.85 bn in 2019."

However, PwC points out that, from the consumer's perspective, they care less about the delivery system and more about the content.

Marcel Fenez, PwC’s Global leader, entertainment and media, comments: "Digital or non-digital - for consumers it’s all about content experiences. Given the wide variations in consumer preferences, the challenge for entertainment and media companies is to blend data insights and consumer intuition to maximize the value of the experiences they offer. The prize for achieving this is heightened by the fact that the consumer has never been more up for grabs than today."

For marketers, that means two things: continuing to innovate with digital marketing, and producing quality content to reinforce brand differentiation. 

1 Minute Advice: B2B Investments in Social Media

With social media becoming an accepted part of just about every marketing budget, B2B marketers may be in a quandary: When it comes to social media, where should they invest their precious marketing dollars? 

Writing for the CMO Network of Forbes, Daniel Newman endorses investing in LinkedIn because it offers "a larger chance of targeting your audience" than Facebook or Twitter. "Without the distractions Facebook or Twitter brings along," writes Newman, "LinkedIn offers a better platform on which to engage with the right prospects. This is extremely important since you obviously want a more focused approach in your campaigns when you’re spending money." Newman also likes LinkedIn's Sponsored Updates. "This feature," he writes, "allows you to launch more targeted and specific campaigns to your preferred demographics than regular ads."

The newest edition of the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, published by Social Media Examiner, seems to confirm that LinkedIn is a good bet. Among B2B marketers, 41 percent of respondents said LinkedIn was their top social media choice, vs. 30 percent for Facebook and 19 percent for Twitter.

Want to know more about B2B marketing? Then you need to read the 123 eGuide, B2B Marketing 123. It presents a 3 step approach for marketing to businesses that is grounded in timeless principles but recognizes and takes advantage of the brand new marketing world we live in. Purchase B2B Marketing 123 today for just $2.99 at the Amazon Kindle store or in any eBook format, including PDF, at Smashwords.com. This title is also be available wherever eBooks are sold. 

1 Minute Advice: Audience Targeting in Digital Advertising

According to a new Forbes Insights-Quantcast study of more than 300 marketing executives globally, marketers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their audience targeting and use of digital media for advertising. These are the key findings of the study:

• Almost all companies surveyed consider display and digital video a key component of their marketing message or branding. Large companies indicate that they have the ability to devote proportionally more resources to these components.
• Companies value how audience targeting increases brand campaign electiveness, and most expect to increase investment in audience targeting. Currently, 90% of companies spend at least 25% of their digital advertising budgets on specific targets, and 43% of companies spend more than half of their budgets reaching specific targets. Most (84%) of companies expect that investment to increase.
•  The primary challenge for audience targeting is identifying the proper personas. Fifty-four percent of North American companies and 76% of EMEA companies cite this as the biggest challenge. 
• Audience guarantees, inherited from television buying practices, do not yet have a strong hold. Half of all companies (53%) report that 25% to 49% of their demographic targeted video spend includes an audience guarantee, and only 9% report that more than 75% of their targeted video spend includes audience guarantees.
• The importance of validation is growing. Half the companies surveyed always validate that their display and digital video campaigns reach the right audience—51% for display ad campaigns and 46% for digital video ad campaigns. Eighty-five percent of all the companies surveyed expect the frequency with which they validate these campaigns to increase in the next three years.

You can get a free copy of the study here.

1 Minute Advice: No Money for Marketing? No Problem

It may be an attempt at a sensational headline by Entrepreneur magazine, but it certainly is intriguing: "How to Acquire Customers Without a Marketing Budget." 

Turns out the advice is solid -- and chances are you may not have thought of some of the recommendations. Included are "places where people post about problems your product/service can solve," affiliate programs, outreach to bloggers, and more.

It's all in a handy infographic here.

1 Minute Advice: New Insights into Social Media

Social Media Examiner's free new report about the business use of social media is now available. The report has a wealth of data, sharing results of a survey with over 3,700 marketers who primarily work in small businesses. Over half (61%) of the respondents target consumers, while the remaining respondents target businesses.

Not surprisingly, ROI remains a challenges when it comes to social media activities. Only 42 percent of respondents agreed they are able to measure social media ROI. One third of respondents (33 percent) said they spend 1 to 5 hours per week on social media, while one quarter (25 percent) spend 6 to 10 hours per week on social media.

The top two benefits of social media marketing, according to respondents, are increased exposure (90 percent) and increased traffic (77 percent). More than half of all marketers who have used social media for at least 2 years report it helped them improve sales. An overwhelming majority (81 percent) found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours per week invested in social media marketing.

The three most commonly used social media platforms are Facebook (93 percent usage), Twitter (79 percent usage), and LinkedIn (71 percent usage). The next three are Google+ (56 percent), YouTube (55 percent), and Pinterest (45 percent). When asked what was the single most important social media platform, 52 percent of respondents chose Facebook; however, there is a notable difference in B2C vs. B2B marketers: 65 percent of consumer marketers think Facebook is the most important, while 41 percent of B2B marketers think LinkedIn is the most important (Facebook is second at 30 percent).

For lots more insights, get the free report here.