84 Marketing Trends found for Marketing Effectiveness / Return on investment

James Joaquin, ceo of Xmarks, says the technology analyzes the returned links on searches from engines. Each link sends a signal to the Xmarks server asking for information on the website. The Xmarks server returns the metadata, so the web add-on can display it on the search page [left].

A month-long test with 200,000 users measured the click-through rates on ads. On average, the paid search click-through rates increased by 15% for ads that showed SearchBoost data.

For example, when a REI.com paid-search ad serves up for an Xmarks user on a Google or Bing search page, the overlay will display rating stars and other metadata designed to make the viewer more confident about clicking on the ad. The company has also run successful tests with 1800Flowers and othr direct response advertisers.

Advertisers get a 30-day free trial for ads and reports. Thereafter the pricing is tiered, depending on the number of ads.

All data sources are attributed with links to the original insight. The insight is then summarised and, where appropriate, enhanced with additional information.

Goldstein [day job co-founder/ceo of Socialmedia.com] led a panel Monday at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting in Carlsbad, California.

Its focus was on the next wave of interactive advertising - an act of prescience that shed some unexpected light on Twitter's monetization strategy.

As to exactly when Twitter would spill the monetization beans, Anamitra Banerji, Twitter's head of product management and monetization was coy, telling MediaPost after the panel session only that "we are working on an ad platform, but it's only in the test phase."

Goldstein [evening /weekend job: co-chair of the IAB social media committee] wheedled Banerji into sharing details on the "imminent" Twitter ad platform by asking questions such as "you were at Overture before, so what did you learn from that experience" when it comes to "developing the first search ads you're putting into Twitter?"

Banerji walked straight into it: "Innovate very, very quickly, before someone innovates on top of you," he blurted to the meeting. "And be very, very focused on execution. Just be dedicated to your own roadmap and don't worry so much about what's happening around you."

Probing further, Goldstein asked if it was "likely in the next month or so [that the social phenom would] offer Twitter-owned and operated ads, perhaps?" To which Banerji replied, "that's right."

But how, Goldstein asked, will Twitter manage that while supporting the ability to let a "thousand flowers bloom around the ecosystem?"

Banerji answered Goldstein's puple prose in plan black and white.

"We don't think of ourselves as a website - essentially it's a platform," he said. "We don't really control the ads or the way the tweets are viewed and then consumed. We are completely open around other people innovating around us.

Ultimately, publishers should have choice. But the one area of concern for us [is] if bad ads get identified in Twitter - it's a problem for us in the long term. So, we should do whatever we can to encourage positive behavior."

 

All data sources are attributed with links to the original insight. The insight is then summarised and, where appropriate, enhanced with additional information.

In a new report, Borrell Associates estimates that the $8.3 billion value of online coupons redemptions in 2009 (including via the Internet, email and mobile) will jump more than 50% to $12.7 billion in 2010 and to $22 billion by 2014.

And while the internet this year accounted for less than 5% of all coupon redemptions, they represented one-fifth of their value. That's because the online versions typically have greater face value ($2.80 versus $1.41 for traditional circular coupons) and may require consumers to take positive action to retrieve them.

In looking at redemptions by category, online leads the way this year in restaurants and retail stores, with values totaling $410 million and $2.8 billion. It also accounted for more than a third of manufacturer coupon redemptions, equal to $1.74 billion. But online still lags in coupon redemptions for supermarkets and drug stores, which continue to rely mainly on Sunday inserts and in-store promotions.

When it comes to distribution, online is projected to account for 8.7% of the total coupons sent out in 2010, up from 6.2% this year. In explaining the growing reliance on digital distribution, Borrell pointed to a study by Nielsen Company partner NeuroFocus tracking consumer brainwave activity, which found that online coupons outperformed print ones in categories such as attention, emotional engagement, memory retention and effectiveness.

More players are jumping into online coupons as well, from traditional players like Valassis (RedPlum.com) and Valpak to Gannett's ShopLocal.com to a raft of pure-play Internet companies. Borrell expects the wider coupon craze to outlast the downturn as marketers come to understand their impact on shopping behavior more fully and companies learn how to better employ them.

All data sources are attributed with links to the original insight. The insight is then summarised and, where appropriate, enhanced with additional information.

All data sources are attributed with links to the original insight. The insight is then summarised and, where appropriate, enhanced with additional information.