Online Ad Rates Higher than TV

The cost of buying advertising from national tv networks is now higher for ads that appear during a web broadcast of a show than during a tv broadcast. According to Wired, advertisers are willing to pay more for web viewers because web ads allow viewers to act on the ad by clicking through to the advertisers' websites.

"No matter what the click-through (rate) they get, it's infinitely larger than the click-through they get on TV. The click-through they get on TV is zero." That's how Bob Davis, former CEO of Lycos, puts it.

Of course, network tv is still king; more money is spent on tv ads than internet advertising, especially for videos served over the web. But the article says tv executives are working hard to grow online advertising, even to the point of taking risks with their traditional tv viewership.

In a surprising move, CBS recently premiered a show over the web for free before airing the show on tv. The subsequent tv premiere garnered a higher-than-expected showing, perhaps due to buzz from the web premiere.

New Media is Dead

CDs Still King for Music Sales. iTunes Only 19% of Market.

Okay, thought we'd have some fun with that headline. Usually we, like everyone else, tout the strength and exponential growth of new media. However, it's worth noting that old media has a way of hanging on well past reports of its demise. Radio didn't put newspapers out of business. TV didn't end radio, and the internet hasn't killed TV. At least not yet.

Recently, Ars Technica reported a landmark achievement for Apple and digital music downloads. As of January, Apple's iTunes service is now the largest single music retailer in the world. Walmart, including online and in-store sales, is now number two.

Like so many other big stories for new media, this one is significant. But we'd like to take this moment to point out what is often missed in the new media hype: traditional media isn't dead.

In fact, in the case of music sales, less than 30% of all music is purchased digitally. Nearly 3/4 of all music is still purchased on CDs. iTunes and MP3s are hyped as the future of media, and that's true. But the future is still--well--in the future.

Of course, the trend has been hugely in favor of new media and you can expect that trend to continue. TV didn't kill radio, but it sure put radio in its place. Still, radio makes a lot of sense for many messages. Probably will for a long time. Same goes for newspapers and snail mail.

And this brings up one last point: different generations consume different types of media in unequal quantities. Youth tend to adopt new media sooner. And that's great if you're marketing or educating young people. But if your audience is older, new media might not be the best choice.

So with that little reality check out of the way, we will subsequently re-join the world in hyping the achievements of new media.

Marketing Is Not Just For Profit

Last week someone told me nonprofits don't ever sell, they "educate." Years ago, someone told me sales is something everyone does whether they want to or not.

So who is right? In our opinion, there's truth to each perspective.

Every day, you are selling yourself starting with the first person you meet. From the things you say to what you wear, people will make judgments about your character. The impression you make will affect the extent to which others will respect your opinions and follow your lead.

The same is true for organizations, be they for profit or nonprofit. Whether you advertise well or not at all, people form opinions about your organization from the things you say and do (or fail to do).

That said, it's true that nonprofits should not be pushing their services on clients. It's understandable that the idea of "selling" seems out of place for many nonprofits. And while we think it's important for nonprofits to market themselves, we don't think nonprofits should be focused on marketing their services but rather seeking to match their services with clients who will benefit from them.

In fact, I personally believe even a for profit business should not push products that people do not want or need. And most businesses have moved away from the "hard sell" of the middle-1900s. Just as nonprofits strive to be client-centered, corporate marketing has transitioned from a sales-oriented model to a customer-centered model. Of course, there will always be examples of nonprofits and businesses not adhering to these ideals.

This is not just a semantic discussion. Marketing is fundamentally an exchange in which one entity provides a product or service needed by a second entity. This applies as well to a nonprofit providing a service as it does to a business "selling" a product.

The question then is not so much are you selling, but how well are you selling? Or to avoid the "sell" word we could say, how well are you educating your client about your ability to meet their needs? In the end, every organization is marketing but not all properly focus on the client.

Online Advertising Up 25%

As Microsoft contemplates the purchase of Yahoo, industry analysts say whatever the outcome of the proposed deal, online advertising will continue to grow at breakneck speed.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau indicates internet advertising through September 2007 grew 25% over the same period in 2006.

What's more, growth for the online market has not peaked. The broadcast and cable TV markets combine for about 40% of media consumption and about the same share of advertising. However, online advertising still only accounts for about 10% of total advertising in the US, though the share of internet usage by Americans is closer to 20% of all media consumption. Clearly, there is much more room for online advertising to continue it's record pace of growth.

(Source: Wired)

Marketing Starts at Home

When we first consult with a new client, they often come to the table expecting us to share our great ideas for advertising and promoting their organization. Instead, we spend a significant amount of time educating ourselves about their organization and their product or service lines. We simply can't produce a meaningful marketing campaign without a thorough discussion of their organization or business.

Often, clients are surprised to find they don't have much to share, either because they have not established a clear focus for their organization, or because they have simply not thought about the nature of that focus.

What do we mean by "focus"? Every company or organization provides a finite spectrum of products or services. Unfortunately, many entities do not effectively limit the range of offerings they provide. In so doing, every aspect of their operations suffer.

To establish a focus, you first must decide who is your target audience. For nonprofits, there are usually two external audiences: clients and contributors. These targets are further segmented into various groups. So your client segments may be children, adults, women, cancer patients, etc. Contributor segments may be government agencies, private foundations, or individuals.

Once you establish your target audiences and segment those audiences you can effectively choose a product mix. A product mix is simply the products or services you offer to meet the needs of your intended target audience(s). The important point is to be selective. The broader your product mix, the more diluted your marketing efforts become.

On the other hand, a selective target market and product mix produces a strong focus and fosters:

• A clear, marketable brand.


• Identification with and enthusiasm for your mission by staff.


• Operational efficiency and quality.

So the next time you consider your organization's marketing strategy, ask yourself a few questions: What is our mission? Who are our audiences? What products or services do we provide those audiences?

And when you do advertise or promote your services, select messages that specifically target each audience individually.

Establishing a clear marketing focus is one of those concepts that seems so plainly obvious, but is too often painfully overlooked. As the saying goes, "common sense is not so common."

FurnaceZilla Shakes Things Up

With the launch of HeatSource Mechanical's latest commercial, the first major viral ad campaign in Alaska is underway. The commercial features a 300-foot-tall forced-air furnace on a rampage through the city of Wasilla. The computer-generated monster was composited with live-action video shot on location by Stage 2 Studios.

In the first week of the campaign, traffic at HeatSourceAK.com increased 750%. Thanks to additional publicity from an Anchorage Daily News story, the month over month visits increased 1,000% from July to August.

Of course, web metrics are well and good, but we tell our customers the one stat that matters is their bottom line. In this case, the early signs are good. One new customer last week said he hadn't heard of HeatSource before but he was using them because they have the coolest ad on TV.

Stories like that one--and the buzz they represent--are the power behind so-called viral marketing. Some local companies spend tens of thousands of dollars a month on traditional TV advertisements. But how many local heating company ads do you remember? And how many would you tell a friend about?

The trick is to put your viewers to work as salespeople. The first iteration of the FurnaceZilla ad doesn't push the HeatSource name at all but simply ends with a web URL: FurnaceZilla.com. The plan was to create a commercial so exciting and mysterious that viewers would log on to the website, view a longer video, and send the link to their friends. And as the stats have shown, they have.

And that is the definition of a viral marketing campaign: potential customers so excited about your advertisement they share it with others. While not appropriate for every client in every situation, there is obviously enormous power in this approach to marketing. In fact, it's so obvious you don't even need a 300-foot-tall FurnaceZilla to see it.

The Internet by Any Other Name

The trend-setting technology magazine Wired has decided to drop the capital "I" in the word "Internet." Gone, too, are capital letters for "Web" and "Net."

Why? Well, the editors at Wired (or is it now "wired"?) say the Internet has become as mainstream as "television" and "radio." Hard to argue that point.

Whether this change will trickle-down to mainstream use is yet to be seen, though it seems it should eventually. Was Wired too quick to make the change? Perhaps, but then maybe it's appropriate to make an early change considering the fast rate of change in the world of the internet.