Someone deserves to be sacked!!

Here is a classic example of colossal waste of marketing funds.

Came across this billboard today in the morning on the way to my office. The marketing of the niche exhibition on security ( to try and get exhibitors to participate) is being done on an OOH format – complete with a cost of participation. Wondering what percentage of drivers on this busy expressway are qualified to take up an exhibition stall - and who was doing the media & touch-point planning here?

Instead of using one on one marketing, or other niche approaches – which are the understood norm for exhibition marketing – here is an example of trying to reach out to general public to sell space at a security exhibition!

Terrible approach to targeting the relevant TG, and what a sinful waste of marketing funds.

The year the media died.

For anyone in the media, brand marketing, advertising business, this video is a must see! It highlights the new reality better than most long essays. Listen to the Madison Avenues Blues here.

Brands are all about engagement!

"Gone are the days of repetitive, one-way communications urging your target market to buy your product or service. This means your trusted print campaign may not be getting the best ROI. Today's brand strategies have to include methods to engage with your consumers by capturing their hearts, minds and conversations throughout the purchase and relationship cycle, while remaining brand-centric™ at every touch point."
Read the full note on the non-traditional ways of engaging with customers by Desiree Gullan.

Social Media Measurement, ROI and Monitoring

Had been on the look-out for some good content on the subject for a long time. I am still trying to understand the model where-in I can justify Twittering in terms of impact. Then I came across Robin's post wherein he has pulled together a collection of valuable resources, tools, & advice specifically on the topics of social media measurement, monitoring and ROI.

This along with the other digital marketing tools listed in my earlier post/s called My A to Z list of Digital Tools make a far more comprehensive toolkit. Access my A to Z list here.

I am sure you’ll find his compilation useful and some of the social media statistics resources will find their way into your toolkits. Access the list here.

Eye tracking study reveals website tactics.

Eye tracking studies tend to be very informative and reveal valuable information about how people read and interact with websites. Eyetrack III recently published their eye tracking results for news sites. Some of the findings were quite the on lines of what we have commonly believed, however there are some interesting findings too.

Have listed 12 of the findings I thought were most interesting.

1.Headlines draw eyes before pictures.

2. People scan the first couple words of a headline.

3. People scan the left side of a list of headlines.

4. Your headline must grab attention in less than 1 second.

5. Smaller type promotes closer reading.

6. Navigation at the top of the page works best.

7. Short paragraphs encourage reading.

8. Introductory paragraphs enjoy high readership.

9. Ad placement in the top and left positions works best.

10. People notice ads placed close to popular content.

11. People read text ads more than graphic ads.

12. Multimedia works better than text for unfamiliar or conceptual information.

Read the full report here.