Business Issues Blog

Nearly half (40%) of email marketers plan on increasing their budgets for the channel in 2010 and 47 percent said their budgets would stay the same, according to a new survey by Silverpop. In the coming year, more than half (52%) of email marketers said increasing customer loyalty was a top email marketing goal. Overall, 51 percent of respondents want to drive incremental revenue with their email program; 65 percent of those with larger email budgets says that’s that their top goal in 2010. “When consumers’ purse strings tighten, savvy marketers remain respectful but attentive, so their brands are top of mind when their customers are once again ready to buy,” said Bill Nussey, CEO of Silverpop . “Today’s marketers are mindful of the important role relationship building plays in a successful marketing strategy, and they understand the unique ability of email to engage customers.” While marketers remain positive about the role email will play in meeting their goals in 2010, they are also prepared to face related challenges. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said the biggest challenge in the coming year will be “inbox clutter. Overall, more than eight out of 10 (84 percent) plan to include social media into their email programs in the coming year, and 38 percent will add SMS. Marketers with budget increases are even more likely to add these to their programs; 89 percent will incorporate social media and 44 percent SMS. “Linking email to popular social networks can be a very successful strategy,” Nussey said. “If the messages are timely and relevant, recipients will share them with their networks, and the opportunity for additional exposure increases exponentially. And as customers become more mobile, their marketing must reach them in more timely ways and through channels such as SMS.”

I had just dropped my daughter off at school this morning. As I waited at a traffic light a woman was making a left turn heading in my direction. I noticed she rolled down her window despite the rain that was falling. Immediately my mind went to “She’s smoking.” I was right. Next I went to the inevitable “She is going to toss that cigarette butt into the middle of the road” because in her nicotine choked mind that is not littering, She did. She then made the turn toward me and I saw the child in the back seat in a safety seat and I said “Wow, I need to pray for that poor kid.” You see the whole idea of smoking is filthy to me. I can say this because I once smoked (for about 10 years) so I am not some inexperienced windbag spouting off about this. I know how dirty, disgusting and unattractive the habit is because I have done it. I know it so much so that I can see and predict behaviors of this group of people to the tee just like I did with this lady.

Update: The new AOL, or “Aol.” rather,

U.S. advertising spending in the first nine months of 2009 fell by 14.7 percent compared to the same period in 2008, according to a new report by TNS Media Intelligence. Ad spending during the third quarter of 2009 was down 15.3 percent compared to last year, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines. There were some bright spots with Internet display (+7%) and newspaper Free-Standing Inserts (FSIs) up 3.9 percent. Online growth was driven by telecom, travel and auto advertisers. FSIs benefited from CPG companies expanding their couponing efforts as consumers became more value-conscious. Among television media, cable TV networks audience gains led to a larger share of ad revenue. Year-to-date cable TV spending slipped by just 2.9 percent, a much stronger performance than the TV sector as a whole. Network TV saw year-to-date spending fall 11.5 percent and Q3 spending fell 25.1 percent. Magazines (-19.7%), newspapers (-22.8%) and radio (-22.8%) lagged the overall ad market during the January-September period. Third quarter losses for each of these media categories were less severe compared to the first half of the year. “The updated monthly trend line on total advertising expenditures still shows no meaningful improvement through October,” said Jon Swallen, SVP Research at TNS Media Intelligence. “The slump has now passed its first anniversary and year-on-year comparisons will become easier in the upcoming months. Going forward, the timing, strength and durability of an advertising recovery will ultimately be determined by the way consumer activity rebounds.”

Update:

In most pie charts that feature Google, the search giant dominates the circle, and a new one from the Fair Syndication Consortium follows that pattern.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is hosting a 2-day workshop on “Journalism and the Internet Age” today and tomorrow. Featured at the event are a number of high profile media executives and gurus. The cast ranges from News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch to Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington. The event appears to be designed to present all possible angles regarding the state of the news industry and the web’s role, as well as the government’s role, if any. Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land, who is appearing on a panel at the event himself, has a liveblog running, covering much of the discussion (and there is a lot of it), providing a good source for actual quotes. The newspaper industry is obviously struggling right now, and a common theme discussed throughout the workshop has been that the effects of the recession may be skewing the long term view. In other words, maybe it’s not really as bad as it seems right now. That said, publications clearly have to adapt to the online lifestyles of readers, whether that means the death of print newspapers or not. Let’s look at comments made by Murdoch and Huffington, because they basically represent opposing sides of the spectrum on a number of sub-topics to this discussion (Although to be fair, it’s probably not as black and white as that. There is certainly a lot of gray area in the discussion, which has been going on for years). Murdoch says three things have to happen: media companies have to deliver the news consumers want in ways that meet their lifestyles and must innovate like never before, they have to convince consumers that good journalism isn’t free, and the government needs to “clear obstacles.” Murdoch goes on to discuss other related topics, including that of fair use. He rips aggregators, calling aggregation “wholesale theft.” Huffington , whose site is largely known for aggregating content, says Murdoch is confusing aggregation with theft, but says they link to the Wall Street Journal every day and never get a complaint. She says that if it was wrong, they’d have heard about it. She also says aggregation is part of the web’s “DNA” and that Murdoch plays both sides, noting that some of Murdoch’s own sites also aggregate or “steal” content. Huffington also discusses things like social and collaborative news, and the concept of citizen journalism. There are many other speakers and opinions being voiced at the FTC’s event, and Sullivan’s liveblog captures a great deal of them. It will be interesting to see if the event leads to any significant progress in the ongoing discussion. On a related note, Google has posted about the ways it is focusing on helping news publishers gain traffic, engage audiences, and increase revenue. Related Articles: >