Summary Report on Marketing Practices

eMarketer has just made their Benchmark Guidelines available for download, and it contains some interesting information. They offer a free newsletter that I read on a regular basis.

The report is extensive and includes some complex charts, so I can only give you a few of the points that I found most interesting to think about. I recommend the report to anyone who is interested in getting a better understanding of what marketing professionals are thinking about the effectiveness of different marketing tools. I believe it is a free download. It may have been free to me because I am a subscriber, but that is a free subscription, if you are interested in the report.

A lot of the article is devoted to web analytics; what tools are available, what people use and why, and how they compare to one another.

Further down in the report, they begin to talk about what techniques marketers use to reach their audience and which tool they consider to be most effective. It is this part of the article that I found most interesting.

My general observation from all the information they provide is that SEO is one of the best deals available for marketing your business. The comparisons made in the charts include noon-Internet techniques such as

Chart 4.09 shows that SEO and email are considered to have the best ROI by Marketing professionals. That definitely makes sense, since the investment is so low!

4.10 shows that marketers find both SEO and PPC more effective in 2008 than in 2007. This probably reflects increasing familiarity with the tools and a better sense of how to use them. It is also interesting to note that SEO was considered a stronger marketing tool in both years than PPC!

4.11 and 4.12 focus on marketers spending over $25,000 per month on search and on those spending under $10,000 per month. For those with the big budgets, the ranking of strongest tactic ran from PPC to SEO to Email marketing. For smaller operations spending below $10,000 per month, the ranking was Email, SEO and PPC.

Marketers Moving to Social Media

"Companies are learning how to leverage social media and tap into the rising tide of consumers participating in social network sites, blogs, wikis and Twitter."

This article documents the continuing trend toward businesses utilizing social media for reaching their prospects. As with any new movement, there are still issues about how best to use the medium in any individual business, and how to evaluate the results. The trend is driven by the continuing increase in the sue of these media sites by the public. As always, effective marketing means that you have to go where your customers are!

The article illustrates the research findings with several charts showing the rate of growth projected through 2013, and the kinds of issues that businesses are finding with using social media effectively. To see the article, click on the title, above.

The Internet Is Getting Gray

"... the largest jump in adoption of Internet usage was by users ages 70 and older."

Older users are getting more comfortable with and active on the Internet. What this amounts to is an expansion of the marketplace for businesses trying to reach that older segment of the population. The web is becoming a more and more useful tool for reaching older audiences.

In the first table in this article, usage by age sector is displayed. Most sectors increased their participation rate from 2005 to 2008. Only the age group 65-69 showed a decrease in participation, and that was by 1%. This is probably some kind of anomaly resulting from demographic factors, but a very minor change in any event.

The next table breaks down Internet usage by age groups. The surprising fact to me in this table was that the age groups that spend the most time on the web are 35-49, 55+, and 65+, in that order. What surprised me was that the younger segments of the audience did not dominate the usage. Now this is due largely to the numbers of users in each age segment, but the overall image of the user base seemed different to me from what I might have assumed. To me, that points up the value of looking at these kinds of numbers. My perception of the audience on the web changed somewhat.

The last table broke down Internet usage by activities for two age groups, 64-72 and 73+. In both groups, email and search were the top activities. The interesting observation I took away from this table was that the younger age group spent much more time looking at government sites, banking, and viewing religious sites than the older group. What this means to me as a marketer requires a little more thinking than I have had time to devote to it now, but it seems to point to the kinds of issues that the different age groups are dealing with. The younger group, it would seem, is facing issues of adjusting to questions of retirement and changing lifestyle, while the older group had more likely resolved lots of those issues. For a business offering solutions to changes in lifestyle, this could be important information.

As always, the important issue is for marketers to understand their target audience so they can find the best way to reach that audience effectively.

Click on the title at the top to see the article.

Social Nets and Blogs More Popular Than E-Mail

"... time spent on social networks and blogging sites is growing at over three times the rate of overall Internet growth."

A new segment of the Internet is experiencing substantial growth with implications for all Internet marketing. This announcement shows the change in participation for various segments of the web. The segment showing the most growth from December 2007 to December 2008 is "Member Communities", otherwise known as "social media". This information is important to marketers because it indicates the movement of the audience to a new area of the web.

At the same time, the article has more statistics that document the fact that e-mail is still the most effective medium in terms of customer acquisition. It seems that the rates of people on social media clicking on ads and following through with purchases is quite low.

All this information focuses on ads and selling. The article does not mention search engine optimization or its place in this environment. What all this information suggest to me is that search engine optimization and social media are both important in reaching an audience, educating the audience, and establishing an image for a business, with the actual sale or production of revenue assumed as a natural outgrowth of that kind of positioning.

Search is listed as the top sector in terms of "reach", moving from 84% in 2007 to 85.9% in 2008. The statistic refers to the "popularity of activity" of five sectors. The significant change that is being reported here is that in 2008, "Member Communities" moved up above "E-mail" in the rankings for the first time.

As different sectors become more or less important, the savvy marketer will make adjustments in his or her program to stay ahead of those competitors who are not as responsive to the changes.

Click on the title at the top to see the article.

US Local Ad Market Shrinking

"The good news is that the local online ad market is growing, and will continue to make up a larger percentage of the local advertising sector."

More data from eMarketer shows how the local Internet market will be changing. While they predict that local advertising overall will drop (dramatically in 2009!), they also believe that the Internet share will increase over the projected time period (through 2013). While the bulk of what makes up their prediction is advertising, the impact on search optimization focused on local activity will certainly also follow this pattern.

We have emphasized in our clinics various techniques for reaching searchers interested in local services and products. Employing these techniques effectively will become more and more important for businesses with a local orientation. "Local", of course, means wherever you sell or deliver your services or products. It has more to do with the market you are trying to reach than it does to where you are physically located. Keep that in mind as you devise your strategy!

Click on the title at the top to see the article.

Has the Internet Made You More Productive?

"From 2000 to 2007, a increasing number of users believed in Internet productivity. Respondents who said the Internet had improved their productivity “a lot” or “somewhat” were at 57% in 2000, but jumped to 71% in 2007."

More information from eMarketer reinforces the change that the Internet makes in people's lives. This article has a chart detailing how much people credit the Internet with improving their performance, and also presents statistics on average web usage at work.

eMarketer publishes a regular newsletter with many good articles that address various aspects of marketing that can be helpful to small businesses.

Click on the title at the top to see the article.

eMarketer Revises E-Commerce Forecast

"... as the economy improves, online sales will return to the double-digit growth rates seen prior to 2008."

Despite problems in the economy, the future continues to look bright for commerce on the web. No one has escaped the downturn, but forecasts show that the Internet will recover as consumers shift to the web for savings and convenience.

Click on the title at the top to see the article.