With the minutiae of data available to the online marketer and click thru rates well below one tenth of one percent (Current click thru rates range from .06% to .17% according to stats Doubleclick provided Comscore in a June 2009 study), it’s no wonder that online display ads have come under fire.
With the rise of paid search driven by the game changing success of Google AdWords, display ads have been a remnant item on the media buy for some time now. Is there a way to make display units relevant again, beyond simply being a branding tool for brands that can afford to buy massive amounts of inventory?
Adgregate has a novel idea for display ad [...]

As I speak to agencies about using our technology, I still see a bit of hesitancy. I think some agencies actually view voice as passé or not “cool enough” for them to consider. Truly, I think they are just not seeing the bigger picture yet. Maybe I am not communicating my ideas well enough? Because of this disconnect, I will continue to write on this subject to help explain the use of Jaduka’s on-demand voice technologies to create innovative and powerful digital brand campaigns in hopes a handful of bold and smart agencies read this and jump on board to leverage Jaduka’s powerful and easy to integrate voice services.
A Viral Success Story – With Voice
One [...]

If you work with brands that maintain digital properties, you have opportunities to recommend and integrate leading-edge technology into your digital programs. And with some luck, you’ll have successfully amplified that brand with the buzz generated, helped that brand gain market share and maybe even won an award or two! In this economic period of slashed budgets and diminished expectations, now is the time to really dig to uncover and leverage new, cost-effective ways to differentiate your brand while still positively and proactively engaging your customers.
One area where brands and their agencies are still focused (or need to be if they are late to the party!) is the social media space. And for good reason–social [...]

According to reputable sources, Facebook is soon to launch a new layout for its advertiser business profile pages. What does this mean for those supporting a business profile? It means get ready for some changes in the look, feel and functionality of your profile and how your message appears and reaches your fans.
Big changes announced are that the updated business profiles will now feature tabs, similar to current personal Facebook profiles and that messages will appear more often in fans newsfeeds. This last item is a positive development for any brand marketer. More impressions!
I wouldn’t jump to make a huge strategy change here, not just yet. Facebook has been known for announcing changes, then rescinding [...]

ToysRUs bought the domain name Toys.com at auction for $5.1 million after a heated bidding war with domain holding company National A-1, owner of a portfolio of names that includes free.com and divorce.com.
Was this a good purchase for ToyRUs? It is if they want to own the online space for toys. Wonder what their estimate is to recoup the investment for this domain? Is the long term goal branding, increased market share via more traffic to the site, taking advantage of type-in traffic or to save money on paid search?
Clearly ToysRUs has been eyeing this asset for years and finally had the chance to buy it and did so when they had the chance, despite [...]

Before widespread adoption of the Internet, Facebook, Twitter or even email, using your telephone was the only form of social networking that involved dedicated technology of any sort. The only way to reach out beyond your immediate physical location to contact someone was to pick up your phone handset, spin that rotary dial and ring someone up.
Even today, the immediacy and intimacy of voice still far outshines email, instant messaging and text messaging for true interpersonal communication. Knowing this, why is voice hardly considered for digital applications and not integrated into all web sites and other digital media as a standard practice?
In my opinion, too many of the tools we have today (such as voicemail) [...]

As part of my regular morning routine I was reading the latest Penny Arcade webcomic.
It was about Sony and the PSP, in general Sony is always good to take a potshot at. But today’s potshot was based upon lots of ammunition and comes with some weight from the FTC to boot.
The FTC has ruled that companies engaging in Word-of-Mouth marketing that compensates the word-of-mouth participants, that the participants must make the compensation known. This has typically been defined as “shilling”.
Tycho points out the important distinction between Viral Marketing and Guerrilla Marketing. The fact that an ad agency cannot create Viral Marketing is extremely important. Word-Of-Mouth, a form of Viral Marketing is supposed to be organic. [...]