Archive for the ‘marketing’ Category
Local Online Ad Spending
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Life, Local Search, SMBs, Search Marketing, Small Businesses, marketing, web 2.0
Local is good, and it is a significant part of the entire advertising market. Some estimates say that up to 54% of all adverterising is local, or locally based. In our increasingly localized and connected world, the power of local search, local content, and locally based interaction are unquestionably becoming key components of the advertising arena. Agencies and Local SMB’s are both very increasingly using local based targeting, or local search as an element of their campaigns. According to a new eMarketer Report, In 2008 Internet Yellow Page advertising is expected to reach $1.2 Billion in ad spending. Measurable to say the least.
Local content is largely becoming focused on user generated content; topix.com, outside.in, and others are focusing on creating a platform for people to share their reactions and feelings on locally relevant issues. The number of review sites (the likes of Yelp, BooRah, etc) seem to be doubling by the minute. While it is no question that people are extremely interestedin sharing their content locally, again how are these companies going to monetize this revenue?
Today, I saved $800 on a minor bumper repair to my car because I was researching some competition, checked out Topix, and found a video ad for a bumper repair place promising to save me hundreds. Well they did, and I had a long conversation with the owner of the business. He has totally abondoned anything in print, he created the video himself, and is advertising locally online to spread the word. Only purchasing a few text ads pointing to his website, he has designed his own viral campaign. Here’s the video:
This is how local advertising is going to be monetized. Simply, I was looking for something local, I found it and completely unintentionally I found something that I needed. Video can become a power tool in one’s local arsenal, and is quickly becoming sought after. I am now endeared to topix (they do have a ton of comments from nearly any city you visit), and I literally saved over 800 bucks to fix my rediculously expensive bumper. Local at its finest.
So listen up advertisers, agencies, publishers: here is the lesson - keep it local, keep it relevant and make the relationship meaningful. While there is no question in my mind (and many others’) that print YP’s and newspapers are no longer a useful advertising outlet and that online local search is the place to be, if you can make the ad meaningful, important, relevant - you can make money. This is nothing new, it seems rather simple, but to truly monetize a local site you can’t rely on CPM’s from exchanges or Honda, Verizon and others (a recent Borrell report estimates the relative CPMs for IYP is $3.65 vs. $9.29 for print YP) . It’s gotta be local, because that way I (the user) can convert that page view into a handshake. And isn’t that what local is really all about?
I think so, and I can’t imagine why any business out there will over look the power of a handshake and a friendly smile.
Fake Internet Money
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Local Search, advertising, marketing, revenue models
I have tons of fake internet money. And I’m planning to get a bunch more, my question is what is everyone going to do with all their fake internet money. Alot of businesses out there are converting thier giant audiences into real money, but what are the large sites doing to monetize their views and return their investors money. Rounds C and D are exciting and there were alot big numbers thrown around last year and earlier this year, but when is that all going to come around. I’ve got a hunch that it isn’t.
Youtube became so succesful because it was free to its users, no money and no interuption cost of advertising. Facebook continues to be successful with its users because it limits the interuption cost as much as possible, but I would consider Facebook to be the field-leader in monetization. There are alot of competitors in an increasingly crowded space launching new platforms after their second and third rounds of funding all going after the same ad dollars (Zvents, outside.in, and many more). I’m not the only one who warns of seeking the same ad dollars with similar audiences.
I’m just curious who will be funding these companies in 6-8 months, will the economy pick up, or will ad networks save the day. There is some data showing a slowing online advertising atmosphere, however there is much more optimism towards online ad growth. I can’t see all of these local search competitors succeeding down the road, but the ones that do will own large shares of local markets and have a palpable relationship with these local markets. I cringe when I see “People Love Us on Yelp!” stickers - for a reason, they’re there and they are good.
Mobile Opportunities - 2D Barcodes
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Local Search, Mobile, Mobile Web, Small Businesses, advertising, marketing, web 2.0
Ok, so the iPhone phrenzy has calmed down slightly and every major news outlet or blog has covered their view of the device. Now lets examine how the opportunities in mobile have evolved with this fancy new device.
The GPS capabilities have been upgraded so my iPhone friends will be able to easily figure out, not just who, but also where they are. This brings a variety of Location Based Services to the iPhone that are more readily available now. Local coupons, location aware information and a slew of soon to be spammy SMS services are sure to be around the corner.
I’d like to focus on an interesting new technology that is very popular in Japan, and I’ve mentioned before - 2D Barcodes. Google made these next generation bar codes available in their print ads. Heres an excerpt from their explanation:
Recently, you may have seen newspaper ads for ServiceMagic placed through the Google Print Ads platform. These particular ads include a Google Consumer Response Tag (CRT) with multiple response mechanisms: URL, search terms, phone number, coupon code, SMS code, and 2D barcode. This test is part of our efforts to make print advertising more useful for readers and more measurable for advertisers. 2D barcodes are an especially exciting part of this because they allow readers to “click” on interesting print ads with their cellphones and seamlessly connect to relevant online content.
Whats really exciting about these “Quick Response” codes, is that many features of these 2D bar codes will soon be reaching consumers and connecting them instantly with businesses. With their application to convert local search online to the real world (and vice versa) these QR codes could be extremely valuable to marketers and small businesses.
To the right is an example of a 2D Barcode from the website semapedia.org. Semapedia.org lets you take a link from wikipedia, wikimedia and several other wikis, create a 2D Barcode to link back to specific articles, then print it and place it where ever you wish. Their goal is to “connect the virtual and physical world by bringing the right information from the internet to the relevant place in physical space.” Now picture this applied to your favorite restaurant, or take out place.
You’re walking down the street, right around the corner and you see an ad for the deli. You whip out your phone and snap a picture of the code and bang, you just got a free beverage if you come into the deli and order a sandwich in the next 10 minutes. Just bring your phone.
This technology has applications across many mediums, business types and ad types. Use it to get more information on cars at the bus stop, movies on the subway, hotel rooms at rest areas or just about anything - on demand, on location, while the consumer is in purchase mode. Talk about ROI, send the coupon to a tracking URL and see how many coupons are redeemed from your coupon.
No Nigerian Spammers, no number harvesting, just on demand information. Brilliantly simple.
I see an opportunity in a tinyurl style “QR” generator. Although there are a couple companies doing it in Europe and Japan (Kaywa seems to be the most friendly). They currently offer personal QR codes free as well as enterprise and API use for a fee. Unfortunately there is little traction in the market here in America, as usual we are behind the mobile curve.
Here is an example of mobile marketing from Sweden: Crossmedia Avenue ran a MMS campaign for a pension insurance company that invited users to send in a picture of themselves and see their face transformed 70 years in the future. With over 262k photos sent via MMS in one month! That is a powerful response in a country of 9 million people. I can’t imagine that we are more than 9-12 months away from these sort of campaigns coming to the US.
With over 14 million BlackBerry’s sold last year in the US, iPhone sales expected to reach 10 million world wide by the end of this 2008 and analysts expecting the pie to keep growing, the proliferation of smartphones into our lives is close to reaching a critical mass.
Now if only I could grow a second set of thumbs…
Just Give it a Fresh Coat
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Life, marketing
I was at my parents yesterday for my fathers birthday. This morning while I was reading the paper (yes,my parents still get the paper and I actually read it today!) I noticed something different. It had a whole new design; new font, new colors, it was brighter. Well, I didn’t like it, but thats ok. The main reason I didn’t like was that it was a waste of their time, and it reeked of arrogance.
Maybe its just me, but I really feel newspapers need to bite the bullet and go to town on their websites. The Day has a pretty good website, but it doesn’t do anything different its just a website for a newspaper with news. How about instead of spending time and money, giving an old car a new coat of paint, throw a new engine in there, give it some new brakes. MAKE IT BETTER.
A couple weeks ago I was pondering what I should do to make this blog look better. Then I realized that it doesn’t really matter what the blog looks like, as long as it isn’t making you vomit, its what I write here that makes you read, or come back. It wasn’t really news to me, but its interesting to see how so many organizations are unable to think that way.
A coat of paint can make a big difference on a room, but if there isn’t something provoking or interesting about what or who is in the room, why should I stay - or come back?
Correcting Myself
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Life, Start Ups, analytics, marketing, measurement
Ok, anyone who knows me knows I can get pretty fired up. And sometimes in the privacy of my computer I can get a little overzealous about my thoughts/feelings, especially related to recent experiences. I am also pretty good at acknowledging these blights, and when necessary correcting them. In the past few weeks, I think I may have transmitted some of these blights into this blog, so I’d like to address them.
I have of late been very hard on the financial markets and the coverage of them RE: their view on the internet. And in fairness, I live alot of my life on the internet, I run an internet company and I know a few people who do as well. However, coming across a few data points (particularly this one from Greg Sterling) about E-Commerce having basically flat growth and a few fairly average earnings reports, I think I was getting a bit ahead of myself. I know a good bit about the markets, I know alot more about the internet, but the internet is still a small piece of the economy, and as a whole of our nation, only the early adopters are really savvy to its power and potential. I guess I just never really considered myself and early adopter.
On a second point, I recently remarked on a meeting I had a few weeks ago and used the term “don’t get it.” After reading this post from Mark Cuban, I realized that in some way I was being lazy when discussing the potential project. I didn’t drill “it” down enough for them. Although I never actually used this term with them, nor would I (it is rather insulting), it hit me that in many ways I’ve rationalized deals that never happened or meetings that didn’t go well as them “just not getting it.” The important part of this is that it made me a little better, and now I realize I have alot more work to do to get to a level I didn’t realize I wasn’t already on. If that makes any sense.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure, or something like that.
The Worst Starbucks Ever
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Life, marketing
I found a new Starbucks location (that has assured me they won’t be closing anytime soon) in White Plains, right next to the new Ritz Carlton. Its a swanky joint and reminds me of somewhere that isn’t anything like what I pictured would be going on in White Plains.
I hadn’t planned on writing anything (my life never stops), but I was thinking about my different Starbucks experiences and thought I’d make a note of a few of the good and a few of the bad. Most notably the bad.
Starbucks can be viewed as a microcosm for the world, you find people of all walks of life, all shapes and sizes here, and its a great place to observe how people interact with each other. Particularly the way the baristas interact with customers.
I’d have to say that my favorite Starbucks is across from Yale on Chapel St in New Haven. It has an incredible blend of higher-ed, Ivy League types, statesman, businesswomen, students and your standard toothless chess players. But the real reason for my affinity here is that the customer service is always excellent. “Hi how are you today?” and they wait for a response. You have a conversation with someone, which is often more refreshing than the coffee you’re about to have.
The worst Starbucks I’ve ever been to is in the Biltmore Hotel, Providence, RI. No class, mean spirited baristas (with one exception) and you practically have to beg for a key to the bathroom. In my mind, a key to the bathroom is a rather overt way of seperating people into classes, and making them feel less welcome and important. I mean this place is just mean, and its a great example of why there are so many Starbucks closing. I feel bad for the good people and baristas that actually care, who will be losing there jobs in this upcoming layoff. But not for the rest of them.
Starbucks was created as a place to get a great cup of coffee, and I thought that the notched up prices meant you could get a smile with that. As they grew so quickly, they lost both of those elements, burnt coffee and bitter employees (or was that the other way around). The worst Starbucks isn’t about one particular place, or one bad experience, its about many particularly bad places and thousands of bad experiences.
Coffee can be about the coffee, it can be about the experience drinking it, it can be about the caffeine, it can be about alot of things. But the constant, as with any purchase, is your experience as a consumer. And in the rare chances I get to be the consumer, I’d like my experience to be good.
This isn’t really about Starbucks, its about why they are failing, and how when they stopped focusing on giving people a great coffee drinking experience, they stopped doing what they do best - Making Coffee.
Make coffee people!
Another Busy Week
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Life, Local Search, Mobile, Small Businesses, Start Ups, marketing, web 2.0
We are working on developing an entirely new pricing structure, from the sales materials to the training to the handling of new and recent prospects to the web architecture that facilitates it. Whole new focus, which I’m very excited about. So far this month its taken on very well.
What I’m curious about is how other companies my size are handling the current economic climate. From a general downturn, to the burgeoning online economy. I’ve been hearing alot about some other startups in our field and laugh and wonder about some of their statements.
There’s alot going on in the local search market, and its only going to get more packed. Its a very exciting time to be involved in local, and we are getting after it.
Time will tell who will make it to the “next level”
The Power of Hype
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Life, advertising, marketing
And why its actually useless.
Last week my (never met him before or interacted with in anyway whatsoever, but read so much of what he thinks that I usually think to myself “what would Seth Godin say about this” whenever I do anything) friend Seth Godin wrote a valuable post about “Grand Openings” and how they are not so grand. I laughed when I read it because I was scheduled to attend the Grand Opening party of an old restaurant that had closed and re-opened under a new owner/management that evening.
It was Saturday when I realized the value of the Hype, the artificial pumping up of events, products and companies. I was at the Belmont, in hopes of witnessing history in the form of the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years.
You had to live in a cave to not know about this event. The trainer was everywhere, the horse was everywhere, a big dollar investment was made and a multinational company purchased a first of its kind endorsement. Big Brown came around the final turn and stopped running. The most heavily favored horse to go off at Belmont Stakes in decades, the sure shot, became the first Triple Crown contender to finish dead last.
More than twice as many people watched the stakes on television this year over last year and over 100k people braved the heat to watch in person. People were excited, then they were disappointed. Massively disappointed.
When things don’t live up to the hype, people remember the bad, the letdown or they don’t remember it at all. Eitherway, all the press, all the hype that was put into the event was a waste of many and probably will hurt the brand/event/promoter in the long term.
Don’t try to live up to the hype, let the hype try to live up to you. Make the hype follow the event, let people talk about how great it was, because if something was really worth all the hype, you won’t need to put all that hype into it before hand.
At 5 o’clock vendors were selling Big Brown tshirts for $20. At 6:30 they were selling those same shirts 3 for $5. Of course, if he had won, those shirts might have been selling for $40. Perhaps the Belmont Stakes is not the best example, but it made me think about what we do in order to hype things up and get people to pay attention. As Mr. Godin commonly puts it, make something remarkable - worth talking about, and people will talk about it.
Speak softly and carry a big stick. Just Do It. Walk the Talk. Moral of the story, instead of talking about doing it, go ahead and buckle in and do it. Because almost never was, and probably never will be.
Its late now, and I’m going to stop hyping this post.
You Have No Idea What You’re Talking About
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under advertising, marketing, measurement, web 2.0
Not necessarily you, but alot of people out there who are responsible for making decisions based around incorrect or misused information. “Well we just got our new RSS feed live so we are on the forefront of the the online game.” “Our online advertising needs are being met by our facebook page because (insert 3 random and conflicting facts about facebook here).” We just placed a large buy with the local paper’s website, so we are all set for now.”
All three of these are actual comments I’ve heard from advertising prospects in the past week. Of course we get turned down, we’re not perfect, but it is frustratingly amusing when I hear these responses. “No, we don’t need your services because we have this other program that isn’t measurable and entirely different from your program. But what is it you do again?” The beauty of the internet is that it is measurable, fixable, flexible, adaptable, etc. But just because you can measure 37 different variables on your latest campaign doesn’t mean you’ll get the data you want.
I’m digressing from my point. I sometimes feel like half of the people out there using new technologies are like 16 year olds with out their license cruising around in a Lamborghini - they don’t know what they hell they’re talking about. Sure your RSS feed is nice to have, and I’m happy to hear that you have a blog for your business, and I’m impressed that you have taken the time to build a facebook page. But your facebook page has 2 fans, and the last time your wrote on your blog was December - what is a new feed going to do for your business?
My point is, just because you have something fancy, doesn’t mean you’re using it right. Technology is not a money tree, you have to use it wisely and there isn’t just one way to do that.
A little break, but not from my BB
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Life, Local Search, Mobile, Mobile Web, advertising, marketing, social media
Last night Ryan Seacrest was on Larry King, and was speaking on a variety of issues, including the usual useless gossip, but he also touched on his BlackBerry Addiction. Larry asked him about the several businesses he runs and how he manages to keep them all together and when he sleeps. His response was basically that he turns his BlackBerry to silent, but wakes up routinely to check it through the night. I was watching this with my girlfriend and she informed me that Ryan’ BlackBerry use sounded an awful lot like mine.
Took a fairly last minute trip to North Carolina to visit my Grandmother, and we crushed the BlackBerry on the way here. Same old stuff for me that I’ve written about before, but it emphasizes how relevant it truly is. AT&T has announced that it will subsidize the release of the 3G iPhone this summer by as much as $200. BlackBerry announced its new “Bold” device (with 3G). Overall, the market for mobile phones and web-rich devices is growing enourmously. If people are able to buy iPhones for 2 or 3 hundred dollars, imagine how many they will sell.
Once everyday people, not just the early adopters and business savvy customers, but everyday Jones is able to access rich, mobile internet - then we will see the explosive growth in mobile advertising. I’m very excited to see what happens in the 4th quarter this year…
