Ad dollars are leaving print… and fast!

Their Q1 losses for 2009 were worse than expected, around a 27% loss in advertising revenue. This outpaced their efforts to cut costs (not surprising, good journalism is expensive).

Seth Godin, on his blog, is predicting that by 2012 there will be, “no significant newspapers printed on newsprint in the US.”

WOW! and entire vertical market will be gone, or almost gone in less than three years!

These are both interesting reads and worth the effort to see what’s coming for online advertising.

We have seen with with our clients, and in our past, efforts to cut “traditional” media spending and emphasize online strategies. We’re helping our client get better results through email and PPC marketing; things that are measurable and quickly executable.

What are local advertisers to do, though? They don’t have the large budgets to go to a “big agency,” they don’t have the technical knowledge (in many cases) to prevent being taken advantage of by small agencies, there are too many options for free or almost free web based services, etc…
They have to do research and they have to trust their network. What do successful small agencies have to do, then?

They have to be good at working with small businesses, they have to treat each of their customers well, they have to be successful, because small businesses can’t afford the expense of a failed marketing effort, no matter how small.
Email campaigns and PPC campaigns are the best entry into online marketing for most small businesses, after getting themselves a quality web site. However, they should definitely use a someone to help them, they do not want to upset their targets with violations of CAN-SPAM, or just over communication.

Read the whole article Small Businesses Seek Solutions Online – eMarketer.

Well, this is scary.  The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Google in a lawsuit (Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc.).  The summary of the suit is that if a user searches for a trademarked word (or phrase) then results imply sponsorship:

According to Rescuecom’s allegations, when a Google user launches a search for the term ‘Rescuecom’ because the searcher wishes to purchase Rescuecom’s services, links to websites of its competitors will appear on the searcher’s screen in a manner likely to cause the searcher to believe mistakenly that a competitor’s advertisement (and website link) is sponsored by, endorsed by, approved by, or affiliated with Rescuecom.

MarketingVOX also is linking to more lawsuits that are on the same topic over at SearchEngineLand.

This is what happens when courts, judges, and lawyers who are out of touch with reality decide cases that involve technology that they have never seen or used or understand.  This is patently absurd and the courts need to move into the current century.

A new story out from eMarketer is showing how search marketing dollars are being spent by clients. The data, from Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) used research from a Radar Research study.

The short version of the article is that of the $13.5 Billion spent in 2008, 88% went to Search Marketing and 11% to SEO. The assertion, however, is that more money will be flowing into SEO programs in 2009 because it delivers longer term results.

DMIdeas caveat… SEO works as long as you spend the big $$ on an infrastructure that eliminates human error.

The other takeaway from the article is that Search Engine Marketing spending will grow rapidly over the next 5 years as shown in this chart:

“Retailers ratcheted up their e-mail marketing campaigns to aggressively compete for consumers’ dwindling spending dollars,” says Jeff Grau, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Retail E-Mail: Online Marketing Strategies. “That was due largely to the fact that e-mail is cheap to administer and delivers an ROI far superior to paid search, catalogs and other marketing media.”

Still, with all of the increased volume in email marketing, it still only accounts for 1.5% of direct marketing budgets in the US!

However, between email marketing and PPC marketing, that is changing rapidly. Spends in both categories so far in 2009 are up versus the same period in 2008. Why, you ask? Because email and PPC marketing are measurable, testable, traceable, more cost effective, and much more customizable than traditional marketing (both brand marketing and direct marketing) and advertisers can do more for less.

This is a great article from eMarketer discussing an increasingly important phenomenon… Click Fraud.  Many Search Marketing (SEM/PPC) firms out there use something called “automated bid management.”  The problem with these automated systems is that they react only to activity, they’re not looking at the posibilitiy of fraud, etc.  It is important, in my opinion, that only a mix of custom developed automated tools and human monitoring can succeed in today’s volatile marketplace.

Marketing Vox had an article on this topic at the end of January, as well.

But, wait, if it works here, why doesn’t it work elsewhere?  It does, I would argue, work the same across the board for ALL retail products.  Consumers basically ignore most non-targeted display advertising… the traditional method for brand building online, but, search is relevent and targeted, therefore consumers are MUCH MORE aware of the page content than they are on a typicall web page.