Small Businesses Intimidated by Search Marketing December 19, 2008
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Though they invest heavily in building an online presence, 59% of small businesses with websites don’t currently use paid search marketing. And of those, 90% never even attempted it, according to a survey by Microsoft Advertising.
What’s more, 73% of small business owners say they are so intimidated by search marketing that they would rather do their taxes than create a search marketing campaign, reports MarketingCharts.
The survey, which examined the search marketing behaviors of 400 small-business owners in the U.S., also revealed that despite lack of investment in paid search marketing, the weakening economy and increased competition, 86% of small-business owners felt that they could be missing opportunities to grow their business, while three in four believed prospective customers might be searching online for the service they offer.
Read The Rest—>Small Businesses Intimidated by Search Marketing
NBCU Reorg Could Alter Fate of Network, Insiders Believe December 11, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentNBCU is undergoing a restructuring at its studio and programming divisions. Angela Bromstad, most recently president of NBCU’s London-based international production unit, will head scripted programming for broadcast and the Universal Media Studios unit.
Former Dancing with the Stars producer Paul Telegdy will take over on unscripted and specials programming, writes Mediaweek.
Read The Rest—>NBCU Reorg Could Alter Fate of Network, Insiders Believe
BDO Seidman: 35% of Retail CMOs Cut Holiday Spending December 11, 2008
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Only 25% of retailers say their holiday ad spend is up this year; 35% say they have cut back ad spending as a result of the weak economy, while 43% say their holiday budgets are flat, according to a new study from BDO Seidman.
Of the CMOs surveyed for the study, 57% say they will spend the majority of their budgets on print advertising. 21% will spend most of their budgets on broadcast, while 19% will focus online, writes MediaPost.
Green marketing is still hot, with 43% saying they are increasing their focus on green products, up from 37% last year.
CMOs expect that Black Friday sales will grow 1.2% this holiday season. Online sales for Cyber Monday are expected to grow by 2.4%. Internet sales and gift card sales are expected to fare much better for retailers. CMOs are projecting internet sales to grow 8.0% and gift card sales to grow 5.1% this holiday season.
Read The Rest—>BDO Seidman: 35% of Retail CMOs Cut Holiday Spending
Office Depot to Shutter 112 Stores December 11, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentffice Depot, after reporting a $7 million net loss on declining sales in the third quarter, said it would close 112 underperforming stores in the next three months and cut planned openings.
The closings will occur throughout North America: 45 locations in the Central US, 40 in the Northeast and Canada, 19 in the West, and 8 in the South—leaving the total store count at 1,163, writes the Wall Street Journal (via Retailer Daily).
Read The Rest—>Office Depot to Shutter 112 Stores
Radio Continues Downward Spiral, Online Only Hope December 5, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentBy the end of 2008, revenue growth in the radio industry is expected to have fallen 7%, the second year of negative growth for the medium, according to estimates in a report from from BIA Advisory Services, writes MarketingCharts.
BIA estimates that radio-station revenues will fall to $16.7 billion in 2008, the lowest in more than five years. This indicates the beginning of a downward spiral that could send revenues plummeting as low as $15 billion next year before possibly rebounding in the next decade if radio is able to exploit new media and capitalize on a multiplatform approach.
Revenue percentages will also fall another 10% in 2009, but may have a chance for positive growth by 2010, the report said.
“The already low forecasts for growth in radio coupled with a generally dismal economic climate have also placed a particular strain on the valuations radio stations need to maintain their financing or to be sold,” said Mark R. Fratrik, PhD, VP of BIA Advisory Services. “The waters are very rough right now but the general profitability of radio keeps us optimistic that the industry will weather the storm providing it strategically invests in its online presence, which will prove to be its rescue as ad budgets continue to shift to more measurable online media.”
Internet Looks Promising
Read The Rest—>Radio Continues Downward Spiral, Online Only Hope
NBCU, Like Viacom, Making Major Cuts December 5, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentNBCU is launching its latest round of layoffs, with up to 500 jobs, or 3% of its work force, expected to be cut.
NBC News bureaus in Dallas and Los Angeles will be affected, writes TV Newser. L.A. correspondent John Larson, who reported for Dateline for many years, and Mark Mullen, who had a two-year run reporting for NBC in Beijing, are among the cuts. Heather Allan, a bureau chief for NBC News special events, has also been let go.
Read The Rest—>NBCU, Like Viacom, Making Major Cuts
Display Ads Put Searchers in a Branded State of Mind December 5, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentA Specific Media study finds the presence of display advertising significantly affects click-through and search style across both paid and organic searches.
In the “travel and tourism” category, display advertising engendered a 274% lift on both paid and organic search. A 260% lift was seen on searches in the realm of “health,” while “personal finance” saw a 206% increase, writes MarketingVOX.
“Automotive” and “news and media” enjoyed a 144% search lift, while “property and real estate” demonstrated 125%.
“Consumer packaged goods” saw the slightest increase — 22%. And in “retail,” display advertising drew just a 69% lift in search.
Findings suggested consumers exposed to display ads are more likely to search for brand terms (like “BMW”) and segment terms (like “635 CSi”) than unexposed ones, according to Specific Media.
The research tracked 60 Specific Media campaigns, then integrated its findings with 12 months of “ad effectiveness” data backed by comScore, MediaPost writes.
Read The Rest—>Display Ads Put Searchers in a Branded State of Mind
Icahn Snaps Up More Yahoo December 2, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentRegulatory filings reveal that billionaire hedge-fund manager Carl Icahn bought nearly 7 million additional shares — about $67 million worth — of Yahoo.
The investor paid an average of $9.92 for each share over the course of three days, bringing his total stake to 75.6 million shares — almost 5.5% of the company, according to last week’s SEC filing, writes MarketingVOX.
Read The Rest—> Icahn Snaps Up More Yahoo
Google Nears 72% of U.S. Searches in October November 19, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentGoogle had a large majority of search market share in October, accounting for 71.70% of all U.S. online searches conducted in the four weeks ending November 1, 2008, while Yahoo Search, MSN Search and Ask.com received 17.74%, 5.40% and 3.53%, respectively, according to October data from Hitwise, MarketingCharts reports.
Read The Rest—>Google Nears 72% of U.S. Searches in October
YouTube Lets Advertisers Peddle via Search Results Pages November 14, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentn a continuing push to monetize the site, Google will begin selling space to advertisers on YouTube search results pages.
Advertisers can bid to promote themselves via YouTube Sponsored Videos; the ad results will appear on the right-hand side of the YouTube search results with a small image and some text, writes The New York Times. As with Google search, advertisers can set a maximum price per click; they are charged each time a viewer clicks on the ad. How high the ad appears within the results depends on a number of elements, including not only how much the advertiser is paying per click but also how much interest the message has generated in the past, AP writes.
Read The Rest—>YouTube Lets Advertisers Peddle via Search Results Pages
