Advertising/Media

Here is my annual list of what to expect in the coming year as it relates to marketing:

1.) Mobile is here and will grow. Make sure you think about its impact on your marketing when you do your 12-18 month planning. Customers and prospects are expecting you to accessible at their fingertips.

2.) Look for more integration of traditional media into social campaigns. While social is good at helping build credibility and dialog, it’s not the greatest at converting those conversations into business. Enter mail, email, face-to-face selling and telemarketing.

3.) B2B marketing will begin its long overdue transition into more measurable marketing. The days of trade shows, space ads and some direct mail only will be a thing of the past for those B2B firms that want to gain market share. Enter social media, more

Below were my 2011 marketing predictions. Let’s journey together and see if my crystal ball needs cleaning:

I can’t really claim these are anticipated, but here they are, my 2011 predictions advertising/marketing/communication specific to the New Year. For the record, my last few years’ predictions have been accurate. Use or dismiss this prose at your discretion.

Prediction #1: Video will play a keener role in website conversions, and marketing as a whole. It’s already happening and with YouTube the second most popular search engine (that’s right, only Google is bigger), it just makes sense. Zappos and other sites already know this, so test video on your site(s) and watch conversions skyrocket. As such, SEO/SEM will play a critical role in marketing effectiveness next year.



Video is being added to every new website that we now build and is being incorporated into old sites as well. YouTube continues to grow, so I would say this was spot-on. How often do you view video content on websites compared to one year ago?

Prediction #2: Consumer and Business purchasing decision-makers are changing their buying patterns because of advances in technology and the ubiquity of information that can be had on Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Bing, Rock Melt and the like. Thus, those who understand data – specifically how that data relates to transactional occurrences by each KEY target market segment – will rule the day. This applies to both customer and prospect segments. We have trained buyers to this fact: know intuitively who I am, what I am seeking and make it as easy as possible for me to do/continue to do business with you. Those companies that don’t understand this will be watching their bottom lines evaporate.

The web is blurring the lines between B2B and B2C marketing. Relevancy is the key to making me want to buy from you. Agree?

Prediction #3: Larger companies will hire more reputation mangers to make sure they can react swiftly to the chatter – specifically the negative chatter – that is so easy to post and even easier to go viral in 2011 and beyond. It’s a trend that will continue to grow and customers/prospects gain more powerful customer relation options thanks to the the web. more

Both Zynga, the online games company whose offerings include Farmville, Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker, and Groupon, the daily deal site, are dot-coms which deal primarily in virtual goods. They hold no physical inventory and rarely generate transactions that result in drop-shipped deliveries.

Despite this, the Zynga IPO, unlike the one presented by daily deal firm Groupon, doesn’t make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. The differences are rooted in how each company presents and markets itself. more

Chances are pretty good a consumer who hasn’t opened a marketer’s e-mail in three and a half years isn’t a viable prospect. Yet in a study of more than 100 retailers, almost one-third were still mailing to these individuals at exactly the same rate they had when their communications were being opened. And another 23% were sending out messages, albeit at a reduced frequency.

Fewer than half (46%) had stopped mailing entirely.

No harm done? Wrong and wrong. Internet service providers (ISPs) are increasingly giving weight to engagement metrics when determining deliverability. They know – and care – which messages are and aren’t being opened, even if marketers don’t. And messages that go unopened will increase the likelihood a marketer will be labeled a spammer. more

There’s more to being a good social media marketer than merely knowing how to use Facebook. Clara Shih, founder and CEO of Hearsay Corp., has developed a series of tips for effective social media marketing, which she presented at ad:tech New York under the heading “7 Habits of Highly Successful Social Marketers”.

Marketers recognize the need to be active in social media, says Shih, citing a Forrester Research study which found 73.5% of U.S. companies consider social media a top priority. The big boys are acting on this impulse: Among Fortune Global 100 companies, 65% have Twitter handles, and 54% maintain a presence on Facebook, Shih adds.

Shih’s current list of tips broadens those offered in an earlier presentation, in which she focused on using Facebook as a marketing tool. Her current recommendations include: more

There is a unique sensation arising when one trips hard but catches oneself before going face-flat onto the pavement. Netflix executives are doubtless feeling that sensation today – as well as the combination of shakiness and exuberance that accompanies it.

Why the exuberance? Because in the long run, what first appeared to be a debacle will play nicely into Netflix’s mid-term strategy to boost its profitability.

The stumble is well documented: Earlier this year, the movie rental firm announced plans to separate its DVDs-by-mail operations from its streaming video business. The by-mail operations were to be branded Qwikster – an admittedly curious moniker for the slower of the two delivery options. more