Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Marketing Pilgrim Published: “Nice Work Online Marketers! Now You’re Killing the US Postal Service!” plus 5 more

 

Marketing Pilgrim Published: "Nice Work Online Marketers! Now You're Killing the US Postal Service!" plus 5 more

 

Nice Work Online Marketers! Now You're Killing the US Postal Service!

Posted: 20 Jul 2011 07:34 AM PDT

It wasn't enough to help put the newspaper industry in its place was it? Nope!

Now, the online marketing industry has put the US Postal Service on the skids and the Postmaster General, Patrick Donahoe is even predicting a very new look for mail delivery in 15 years or so. The following quote comes from an interview with USAToday

Asked about the long term, Donahoe said, "At some point, we'll have to move to three" days a week of mail delivery, possibly in 15 years.

Yikes! So why are we reporting this? Well, we are called Marketing Pilgrim after all and it's important for marketers to consider and fully understand how the best mix of effective traditional marketing techniques and the right online marketing options will help drive sales. Do you really believe that only the online space will be used for the foreseeable future? (Please say no).

Here is a video that gives some quotes from the Postmaster General which don't paint a very rosy picture for the US Postal Service.

So what about you folks who use direct mail to help drive online traffic? What's your plan moving forward? Will you hold on to the bitter end until you are forced to change or will you start to change now? If the USPS went away would that impact your business at all?

These are interesting times we live in regarding the blending of the new and the old of the marketing world. What do you suggest for the best ways to handle this transition?


Marketing Executives Talk Social Media Strategy Then Don't Deliver

Posted: 20 Jul 2011 06:59 AM PDT

Maybe it's simply marketers doing what they are most accused of when they talk about their products. You know the deal, hype the heck out of some aspect of a product or service to move it even though it may not deliver as promised. Not exactly a trust building way of doing business but if it creates good numbers for a quarter or two it's a win, right?

What seems to be happening is that marketing executives are talking about creating social media strategy out of one side of their mouth while saying it's not a priority out of the other. eMarketer reports

One thing that is interesting is that medium sized companies are most likely to consider social strategy a top priority. It is likely that they are the group that has the most to gain / lose if they are not sharp since they want to go after the big guys while also making sure they are not overtaking by some smaller up and comer.

Now take a look at how the actual numbers compare to the ones where a marketing executive can simply say how important this strategy is.

The bottom line is this. If marketing executives are still in the lip-service phase of how they look at social media in the overall scheme of business then there is a lot of work to be done.

Maybe we as an industry have been focusing on the wrong things, which allow these kinds of mindsets to exist at all. By concentrating on the tools of the trade rather than the application of the tools we may be doing everyone a huge disservice.

It's nothing new to say that if you don't have a plan for whatever it is you are endeavoring to do you will likely be disappointed in the results. This concept will be the exact same for social media moving forward. If the social media industry allows for hype to take the place of real attention being paid to real world application of these tools the growth of the industry will be stunted.

What do you do for strategy with regard to social media? Are you just "winging it" and hoping for the best? Are you just using the various tools like Twitter, Facebook, foursquare etc and seeing what happens versus applying them strategically to increase your chance of success? Maybe this is moving too fast for people to handle properly?

What's your take?

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Google to Surfers: Let's Get Small

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 01:06 PM PDT

This week's "seriously?!?" moment, goes to the folks at Google who obviously spent some of their downtime listening to the classic Steve Martin stand-up skit, "Let's Get Small." That's the only explanation I can find for this maneuver.

Google has purchased and will soon bring online g.co. Yes, g.co. In the near future, when you type g.co, you will be taken to a Google page. No one knows what page, but it will be a page in the Google family, so you know that you'll be well taken care of.

Why? Because Google.com is too hard for people to remember. It has too many letters, not to mention that pesky "m" at the end. It's going to be much easier for people to remember to type g.co (because unlearning to type an "m" after co is so simple) and then from there, they can navigate to where ever they really want to be.

Is this as dumb as it sounds, or am I missing something?

Google reminds us not to confuse g.co with goo.gl, which is their new URL shortener. In other words, goo.gl, will help you get small, while g.co is already small.

Now we must warn you to take care when getting small. As Steve Martin says, you should never get small while driving. He made that mistake, and here's what happened:

"a cop pulls me over. And he makes me get out, he looks at me and he says, "Heyyy.. are you small"? I said, "No-o-o! I'm not!" He said, "Well, I'm gonna have to measure you." They have this little test they give you – they give you a balloon.. and if you can get inside of it, they know you're small."

I'm not sure that Google should be encouraging such reckless behavior, but they're Google. Next week Facebook will roll out ;) .co, and then we can all get small together.


Half of All Marketers Say Mobile is an Integral Part of the Plan

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 12:16 PM PDT

Mobile advertising isn't a slam dunk yet, but according to a new survey commissioned by IAB, it's already become an integral part of the plan for 51% of brand marketers.

The study, "Marketer Perspectives on Mobile Advertising" was conducted by Ovum and the results were presented at the "Mobile in the Mainstream…and as the New Main Screen" conference yesterday in NY.

Of the marketers who weren't completely on the mobile bandwagon yet, 35% said they were "experimenting" with the medium, while 14% are still wandering through the landscape.

Top reasons for going mobile:

  • Immediacy (considered of high importance by 57% of respondents)
  • Cost-effectiveness (54%)
  • Increased engagement (52%)

The downside to mobile advertising:

  • Device fragmentation (cited by 72% of respondents as a challenge of medium or high importance)
  • Privacy issues (70%)
  • Lack of standardized metrics (69%)

For 60% of respondents, smartphones are the main target, 31% is working ads on tablets and a surprising 10% said ebooks were part of their plan.

The survey also showed that a majority of advertisers felt there were "limited opportunities for creative" but IAB suggests this is because most of the respondents are keeping it in-house, rather than hiring a creative agency.

Looking forward, 72% of ad spend decision-makers say they'll be increasing their mobile ad spend in the next two years. 35% of them, expected the rise to be more than 50%.

Where do you stand with mobile advertising? Simply dipping your toes in the water or have you dived in?

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Google Heads Texas Sized Push to Get SMB's Online

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 10:42 AM PDT

This one is pretty interesting just due to the sheer scope of the idea. I haven't seen the latest statistics of what percentage of SMB's still don't have a website (used to be in the 50% range surprisingly enough). This kind of effort from Google, however, shows that something must be there. If there isn't "gold in them thar hills!" it's not likely Google is getting near it, right?

So check out the Texas Get Your Business Online effort and let us know what you think.

Thanks to Linda Buquet of Catalyst eMarketing for bringing this to our attention.


Internet Marketing Jobs Are Hot This Summer!

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 09:52 AM PDT

Are you sweltering like many of us through this heat wave? Well, it is summer in the states after all.

Here at Marketing Pilgrim, though, we want you to pay attention to other things that are hot like the Internet marketing and social media marketing jobs market. Our Internet marketing job board is a great mix of more traditional marketing opportunities and those that are more online centric. As we all know the lines are blurring rapidly between the two worlds so opportunities exist that never did in the past.

Here are just a few to consider:

Marketing Specialist / Graphic Designer – 4WARD Financial Marketing – Virginia Beach, VA

Corporate Communications Manager – Red Hat – Raleigh, NC

Digital New Media Campaign Director – SEIU – Detroit, MI

Senior Marketing Manager – Philips – Stamford, CT

Be sure to visit our Internet and social media marketing job board for all the job listings we have.

If you an employer looking to list a job you can't go wrong for just $27 / listing / month!

Here's to a hot summer of finding the hottest jobs in the Internet and social media marketing industry through us here at Marketing Pilgrim!


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