With the introduction of AdWords for video, Google has finally taken a step towards combatting (and more importantly harnessing) the power of YouTube.

Google claims that advertisers will “reach viewers around the corner or across the global on YouTube, the world’s largest video community”. This is not news to the rest of us. What is news is that it has taken so long for Google to wake up to this fact.

Using AdWords for video, advertisers can market on sites across the Google Display Network which, according to Google, reaches 89% of online users. As with all AdWords services, advertisers pay only when users actually watch their advertisement.

According to Google, 800 million people visit YouTube every month, making this online advertising medium as effective as television when it comes to raising brand awareness. Furthermore, Google claims that, through the use of video advertising, website traffic can be increased by an average of 20% and search queries increased by 5%.

The new AdWords for video product will enable users to better understand the effectiveness of video campaigns on YouTube through tools which quantify how many people viewed the whole video, visited the advertisers’ website after viewing the video and shared the video.

To entice new advertisers, Google is promoting an incentive for new users with a launch promo. Any companies that have not used YouTube in the past are entitled to a $75 credit when they sign up to Google’s new service. This is enough for a month long campaign which reaches 1,500. Google may have been slow on the uptake, but now that they are in the market, they are taking the bull by the horns.

If you want to see more check out http://www.google.com/ads/video/

So, by now, we all know what Google AdWords are, right? For those of you that have had your heads buried in the sand for the last 10 years or so, they are those little text ads that appear whenever you search for something (using Google obviously). Google makes an absolute fortune from these little text ads. To be precise, 97% ($33.3 billion) of Google’s revenue over the last twelve months was derived from AdWords. Of course, advertisers wouldn’t be using AdWords if it didn’t work, but some advertisers spend more than others.

Wordstream, a company that automates search engine optimisation, undertook research into which keyword categories attract the highest cost per click. They used their own database of keywords, over 90 days, to work out the top 10,000 most expensive English words.

Just for you, here is the list of the top 20 highest cost per click words, as discovered by Wordstream:

1. Insurance
2. Loans
3. Mortgage
4. Attorney
5. Credit
6. Lawyer
7. Donate
8. Degree
9. Hosting
10. Claim
11. Conference Call
12. Trading
13. Software
14. Recovery
15. Transfer
16. Gas/Electricity
17. Classes
18. Rehab
19. Treatment
20. Cord Blood

Topping the list, ‘insurance’ pulls in around $55 per click for Google. Not a bad little money spinner at all. The most regular search queries included ‘buy car insurance’, ‘building contents insure’ and ‘life insurance comparison quotes’. Even ‘loans’, which comes in at a close second to ‘insurance’, nets Google around $44 per click.

As you can see, the most expensive keywords are a product of society’s needs. We all seem to use the web today to search for information and assistance with topics that we are not necessarily experts in, but are a part of daily life: finance, professional services, health and education.

How much marketing costs, or how much to spend on marketing can be a very tricky question for a lot of companies to their collective head around. It’s kind of like the chicken and the egg scenario. You need to undertake marketing to attract clients but unless you have clients (and therefore a bit of cashflow), you can’t afford to undertake marketing. Sound about right? And when it comes to working out a marketing budget, how much to spend can be impossible to work out. How long is a piece of string? While we can’t answer that for you, we can give you some elements to consider when putting together a marketing budget.

First of all, do you know what marketing actually is? What is marketing in a nutshell? In case you aren’t sure here you are: marketing is everything that your company does in order to reach your target audience and convince them to buy your product and service. Don’t forget about the second step in that definition. It is no good to just ‘reach’ your audience. You must motivate them to take action, to buy your product, to log on to your website, to phone your service number. This is the only way you are going to convert your marketing spend into profit. Otherwise, what’s the point of spending the cash at all?

The next thing to remember is that marketing is a process, comprised of many elements, steps and phases. A good marketing campaign is not a two day TV ad placement. It is an integrated program which may include (but in way should be limited to): television, radio, social media, print, PR and mobile marketing elements. As such, you will probably need to purchase a few resources and bring in an expert consultant to help you out with all these elements.

How much you need to spend on these resources and experts is up to you and will differ greatly, depending on the industry you might be in and the scale of the business. There are a few ways that you might like to work out your marketing spend: a percentage of your total revenue; a percentage of profits; or a specific amount each year.

Regardless of how much you actually spend on marketing, the most important thing to keep in mind is return on investment. There is no point in spending big bucks and getting nothing back in return. Marketing should increase revenue and profit. Maybe not immediately, but definitely over time.

Just remember that free marketing does not exist. Unfortunately, to grow your business, you will need to invest in it. You will either have to pay with your time or with cold hard cash for results in the world of marketing. In today’s fast-paced, consumer driven marketplace, there just isn’t any other option.

Now that 2012 has gotten off to a roaring start, perhaps it is time to take a look at what’s in store for the digital marketing industry for the year. As with any industry, in any year, there will be challenges as well as successes.

From our extensive research (well, we did a bit of a Google search), we reckon that 2012 will be the year of the application. Bet you didn’t see that one coming did you? (Side note: if you didn’t see that one coming, and you are working in the digital marketing space, we suggest that you change careers NOW!)

As such, we’ve put together our five top items that you might want to put on your digital marketing agenda for the year.

1. Get mobile: we don’t mean that you should rush out to Telstra and arm all your employees with the latest iPhone. What we do mean (and we’re talking to all you marketing and advertising execs out there) is that you need to work out how to effectively integrate ‘mobile-ness’ into your annual business plans and budgets. With consumers increasing their use of mobile devices exponentially every year, mobile marketing is no longer optional (at least, not if you want a successful brand). It is now indispensible. In 2011, Google estimated that 44% of last-minute shopping searches were from either smartphones or tablets. In 2012, if you do not optimise your website for ‘mobile-ness’, with a specific format and landing page for mobile devices, you will be at a serious disadvantage.
2. Better methods of measuring Return On Investment: as with any type of expenditure by a company, there has to be a clear Return On Investment (ROI). To calculate and better demonstrate this ROI, there has to be a solid foundation of digital marketing measurement metrics. Generally, in the world of digital marketing, this is currently based around the concepts of ‘cost per click’ and ‘conversion rate’. However, as companies begin to allocate more funding to the digital marketing pool, there will need to be a more direct correlation between digital marketing expenditure and profit (and obviously a means by which to measure this).
3. Increased focus on research: for a relatively new marketing medium, most companies do not undertake a great deal of research into the field of digital marketing. As overall budgets for digital marketing increase, so will digital marketing research budgets. There is no industry standard for digital marketing, like radio and television rating schemes. Research will help build on aspects such as this.
4. Integrated marketing methods: this phrase has been hanging around for a few years now. The reason that it is still around is that most companies still haven’t quite got it right. Integrated marketing is not simply about using all marketing mediums; it is really just the first step. The second step is using one channel to promote the other channels. What you really need to do is leverage the use of each channel through an integrated marketing plan. Sound tricky? Well, that’s why it’s still on the agenda. It requires innovative thought, big ideas and artful execution.
5. Customer engagement through digital marketing: we all know that customer engagement (and to a lesser degree validation) is vital in any marketing strategy these days. This is where social media comes in to play. Customers (or consumers or clients or whatever term you like to use) like to feel as though they are part of the process and can shape your brand, product or service with their feedback. So, we believe that in 2012, companies will tap into this, particularly during the lifecycle of new products (it’s free feedback throughout the planning, concept development and testing and launch phases). In 2012, companies that are digital marketing savvy will use social media to ensure the product they are launching is popular, the process will bolster their online community, strengthen their brand and give them a competitive advantage. Ticks all the boxes really.

Some years, everything changes. Innovation and rapid technological advances have been known to change the whole face of the marketing industry in one foul swoop. This has been particularly true throughout the naughties, with the ever-advancing avalanche of social media launches.

2011 was not like this.

Rather, 2011 saw a plethora of incremental upgrades across all social media platforms. Nothing fundamental changed. There was no new social media platform launched (like in 2006 when Twitter invaded our screens, or even in 2009 when Foursquare skipped into view). Everyone stopped asking, ‘What’s going to be the next Facebook?’ and started to wonder what Facebook would do next.

But what about the launch of Google+ I hear you ask? While Google+ did arrive in 2011, it is more of a long-term trend. For those of you who haven’t spent too much time familiarising yourself with the platform, Google+ provides a means by which users can recommend search results and websites by “+1′ing” a page. Keep an eye out for it in 2012.

While it was light on for big, sweeping changes in the marketing industry, there were a few interesting developments in 2011:

Mobile internet usage increased: according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, mobile internet usage (including mobile broadband, mobile phones and tablet computers) is up 50%. Australia is now a global leader in terms of smartphone usage rates, with the second highest penetration of smartphone usage, according to Google. In 2011, 50% of the Australian population accessed the internet via their smartphone.

Virtual word of mouth increased: Nielsen Research released The State of The Online Nation. Nielsen found that: 73% of people polled had read online reviews of brands, products and services; 26% read online reviews regularly; 46% have commented themselves; and 33% post new reviews.

Social media marketing went mainstream: corporate use of social media marketing increased enormously. Companies have come to realise that social media is not a passing phase and to be competitive within the marketplace, they need to have a social media presence. Companies also took a more sophisticated approach to their use of social media. There was a realisation that it is not just a matter of having a Facebook page, you have to engage your fans (otherwise known as customers).

Yellow Pages went online: the good old yellow bible stopped printing hard copies, and moved to a wholly online format. Not happy Jan? Worried about how your Nan will find a local mechanic? Take it from us, these aren’t the questions you should be asking. How will it change your marketing strategy? It signals the end of set-and-forget marketing campaigns.

So there you have it. No earth-shatteringly amazing marketing trends for 2011. Just baby steps (or upgrades) towards a marketing industry that is even more focused on online and digital platforms.

Facebook has again released its analysis of the most popular trends, topics and ‘memes’ for 2011 in it’s annual Memology. The highly anticipated Memology is usually a fairly accurate and concise summary of the year’s events, or at least the most talked about events.

The analysis shows the top ten Facebook status trends globally by month and then the top ten status trends for each country, as well as the fastest growing pages (categorised according to Entertainment, Music, Sport and News). What the Memology didn’t highlight this year was the most talked about brands or products and the fastest growing brand pages. This is probably so as not to upset the lucrative Facebook advertisers by promoting their competition.

Topping the list of global topics on Facebook was the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1. This historic event was the topic of 10% of status updates when the news first broke. Number two on the list was not quite so historic (at least not for us Aussies); it was the Packers win of this year’s Super Bowl. Not to be outdone by a bunch of athletes, Charlie Sheen’s more public outbursts in March also made headlines on Facebook. Some of his more unusual catch phrases (for those who have chosen to block these from their subconscious, may we take this opportunity to remind you: ‘winning’, ‘goddesses’ and ‘tiger blood’) took off.

In Australia, the short-lived phenomenon of Planking topped our list of most popular status updates. According to Facebook, this occurred after Max Key, the New Zealand Prime Minister’s son, posted a photo of himself planking in the lounge room with Dad in the background. Sticking with the political theme, the census also made it into the Australian top ten; a pat on the back to the Australian Government for the level of engagement it was able to achieve with ‘Spotlight’, an interactive tool that accompanied the census which published an info graphic on the user’s wall.

This was followed by Cyclone Yasi which hit Queensland in early February. Also making into our top ten was Skrillex. Never come across this term? Wondering how on earth it made it into the top ten if you’ve never even heard of it? Me too. It was only in researching this story I discovered that Skrillex is actually a person; a music producer to be exact.

The beautiful people took out the most popular pages: Megan Fox, Vin Diesel and Rhianna were among the favourites. The supernatural took out the top movies for 2011 with Harry Potter at number one and the Twilight Saga chomping at its heels (or maybe neck) in number two.

In terms of acronyms, ‘lms’ and ‘tbh’ were top trending new memes this year. I know what you’re thinking; just what we need, further butchery of the English language. In case you are considering using them, ‘lms’ stands for ‘like my status’ and is a means by which to increase your visibility as a Facebook user and the content you are posting. Meanwhile, ‘tbh’ means ‘to be honest’ and is generally used to emphasise the sincerity of a post. I think Shakespeare just rolled over in his grave.

There is no telling what 2012 might bring in the ever-expanding world of Facebook. tbh though, we’re sure the 2012 memology will be a fairly accurate representation of the most talked about events and issues. Please lms?

If you want to check it out yourself, just visit: http://www.facebook.com/FacebookPages?sk=app_271705986210152

Consumers are often unaware of product placement, of the use of integrated marketing campaigns, and celebrity and media endorsements to ensure a product’s success. These tactics are increasing due to difficulties capturing the attention of Y gen.

No matter how much public relations consultants want to believe it – there is no research to support the claim that PR-generated media coverage is worth two or three times more than paid advertising.

In 2005, David Michaelson and Don W. Stacks, professors at the University of Miami, tried to establish whether readers attributed greater credibility to news columns compared to advertisements. They looked at differences in credibility, message recall and interest levels.

In a nutshell, the researchers discovered that there were negligible differences between editorial and advertising. PR-generated media coverage and print advertising enjoyed equal credibility and both marketing mechanisms scored higher on the credibility and interest rating levels than online or radio advertising campaigns.

The professors’ results suggested that there is an enormous benefit to delivering marketing messages through a variety of communication channels. And (good news for PR professionals) with PR-generated media coverage obviously on par with paid advertising, it bolsters the argument for reallocating budgets into the public relations coffers (PR has always operated with considerably less cash than advertising).

There are some experts like Al Ries, author of The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR, that believe that most companies shouldn’t waste money on advertising until they have established some level of brand recognition and credibility through PR.

Al Ries states that all the recent brand successes have been due to public relations, not advertising; Red Bull, Starbucks, Harry Potter, The Body Shop, Google, e-Bay. Starbucks spent less than $10 million in advertising its first 10 years. That’s less than $1 million a year; a trivial amount for a national brand.

Some brand managers contend that an integrated approach is the best model; an integrated marketing plan delivers on PR, advertising and promotions. It considers all elements of the marketing mix. When only one element of the marketing mix is used in isolation; the message can be weaker. If you bombard your audience at every possible turn, eventually they will remember what you have been trying to tell them.

According to Advertising Age Magazine, the number one advertisement of the 20th century was produced by Rolls Royce: ‘At 60 miles per hour, the loudest noise in the new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock’. David Ogilvy took this catch phrase directly from the first paragraph of a road test in a motoring magazine; he reinforced the ideas already put into the consumers mind via public relations.

This need is increasingly poignant when the elusive Gen Y is marketed to (or at, as the case may be). Traditional marketing seems to have little or no effect on members of Gen Y which is unfortunate because, according to research from Lifelounge Urban Market Research, Gen Y spends $48 billion a year on entertainment, fashion, sport, travel and music.

In our ever increasingly fast paced society, marketers and public relations consultants will continue to bombard the consumer with product placement, celebrity endorsements via any tool plausible. After all, every company wants a slice of the $48 billion pie.

As a market researcher, the pressure is always on to deliver the most insightful and actionable results for your clients. You need to keep your finger on the pulse of what the upcoming trends are, so you can develop research methods that will help you to use these trends to your advantage and keep one step ahead of competitors. You don’t want your clients to be looking elsewhere for suppliers because you are not evolving with the industry.

We came across the GRIT report, which you may have already seen but we’d like to share it with you. It discusses what you can expect to see in the Market Research industry in 2012. To get a full copy of this report visit http://www.greenbookblog.org/grit/.

Years ago we saw research methodology moving from paper to online. Now with the online space evolving at such a rapid rate, if you are not already, you should be investigating how you can use this space to add value to your research projects. The report discusses that the top five trends that are expected to see massive growth in 2012 are:

1. Social Media Analytics – which is when data is gathered from blogs and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. The data is then analysed to help inform business decisions
2. MROCs – which is when you use private social networking platforms or websites to conduct qualitative market research
3. Data Mining – extracting information from databases or systems
4. Mobile – for both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies
5. Text Analytics – also sometimes referred to as Text Mining, where text data is analysed looking at things such as word frequency distributions

What do you think of these trends? Have you had experience you’d like to share? Visit the forum to discuss.

Image taken from the fantastic Klout dashboard.

With smartphone usage in Australia estimated at a whopping 40%, if you’re not already getting serious about mobile, now may be the time.

According to Morgan Stanley research mobile internet access will be greater than access from laptops and desktop computers. And according to Google, 44% of searches last-minute gifts will be performed on mobile devices.

12.81% of all visitors to Marketing.com.au are using mobile devices. At the time of writing iPhone, iPad and Android are the top device type. I’ll post a follow up article with more detailed statistics in a few weeks when the sample is larger.

I’ve checked a few other sites and the stats range from 5% to 20%. I’d be very interested in your stats, in particular the overall percentage of mobile visitors.

These exciting figures provide great opportunity for savvy marketers, but it’s not just the mobile web where the action is. The Envato Marketplace Newsletter has 223,000 subscribers, with over 6000 new subscriptions every month. The Envato infographic itself is quite interesting, however most interesting of all is the “most frequently used mail client” being the built-in iPhone mail app client.

If you’re keen on getting into mobile, you might be interested in a group called Mobile Monday. There are chapters all around the world with groups in most Australian cities.

Image taken from Google Analytics.

In 2011, 80% of businesses in America with over 100 employees will use social media marketing. Compared with two years ago, when only 42% of companies were using social media, this is an enormous change (source eMarketer). As more and more people adopt the use of social media in their daily lives, marketers are being forced to recognise the potential of this communication tool and integrate it into the marketing mix.

Social Media is one of those mysterious (and slightly scary) terms in the world of marketing. When Facebook exploded on the world stage, followed not long after by Twitter, all those ‘slow adopters’ buried their heads in the sand and hoped (or in some cases prayed) that it would quickly evaporate. Surely this was just another passing Gen-Y fad? No such luck.
Social media has changed the way advertising and marketing is rolled out: bombarding customers with endless two-for-the-price-of-one email deals creates short-term leads but does not ensure long-term success. Social media allows two-way communication with potential customers and can generate online conversations about your brand between customers. So how do you integrate social media into your marketing mix? Make social media part of everything you do; social media is more than just another marketing tool.

It would be really easy to just create a Facebook page, update it perhaps once a week (or every other week if I’m busy). That’s social media isn’t it? Not quite. Consumers do not participate in social media so that marketers have another vehicle to deliver their two-for-the-price-of-one spam. Consumers want to communicate with other people, connect with their friends, their family, and gain an insight into the people behind the brand that they know and love. Marketing through social media marketing should enable this connection. It should create an actual, real relationship (and conversation) between the brand and the customer.

We’ll let you in on the secret to social media: draft, discuss and then implement a social media strategy. It can be a component of a marketing strategy or a stand-alone strategy. It’s up to you. But just make sure that you have one.
Choose a couple of key social media vehicles (those most relevant to your customers or audience). There is no need to use every social media vehicle. Unless you have unlimited resources, you will end up spreading yourself thin and doing all social media badly instead of a couple extremely well. There’s no point in having a half-baked blog, Facebook page, Twitter account and RSS feed. You are better off just having a top notch Facebook and Twitter account. Choose carefully though. Ask yourself: Who is my ideal customer? How and what do I want to communicate with them? Which social media vehicle will be most effective to do so?

Before you update your status, upload that photo or decide to tweet, think about how that action will be improving your brand. Social media is like a giant, expensive, online advertising campaign. As soon as you publish something online, it is visible to the whole world. If you wouldn’t want it on a billboard in Times Square, then don’t post it online. Every social media action should build the strength and value of your brand. It should not just be another excuse for verbal diarrhoea. Even if you are the CEO of IBM, no one cares what you ate for breakfast. And remember, social media should always use your logo, company colours, relevant pictures and any other branding vehicles available, just as advertising would.

Social media does have its limitations though. If your company has no brand recognition to start with, social media won’t really help. You can utilise social media to increase brand recognition, but not to create it. A Facebook page won’t win over new customers.

You can use social media as a vehicle for communicating with customers (particularly younger, Gen Y customers) or for retaining existing happy customers. But if your customers aren’t happy with your product, daily Facebook status updates will probably upset, rather than impress them. If your brand, product or customer service isn’t 100%, it’s probably better to work on business operations and improvements before venturing into the world of social media.

As with any marketing activity, you need to be able to determine how effective social media as well as calculate its Return on Investment. To fully understand the effectiveness of your social media marketing campaign, it is best to use both internal and external systems of measurement.

Internal measurement is much easier to gauge. It includes how many Twitter followers you have, how many friends on Facebook or how many people ‘liked’ your last status update. While all these elements will give you solid, quantitative evidence (your accountant or CFO will like these), they won’t tell you whether a social media campaign is actually working, or whether your key messages are being heard (and understood or acted upon) by your audience.

Don’t get discourage though, this is the same of an above-the-line advertising campaign. You can run all the television advertisements you like (with information from the TV networks on viewer ratings and audience breakdown) but, how do you know that your target audience isn’t in the kitchen making a cup of tea during the ad break?

As such, you need to couple internal measurement with external measurement tools. External measurement is a bit trickier to gauge. It includes website traffic and customer enquiries. You know when companies ask how you heard about them? Well, this is why. They are trying to get an understanding of which marketing methods work best for their brand. If sales haven’t increased, then whether you have two or two million Facebook fans is irrelevant.