Archive for January, 2012

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Newsletter Sponsorships: Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 by Bianca Garcia

Newsletter sponsorships never get enough attention.

What comes to your mind when you hear the term Online Media? Banner ads, right? Banner ads or display ads are synonymous with online media campaigns, but did you know that online media is not just about banner ads? Online media is also about newsletter sponsorships, emails, text ads, buttons, videos, webinars, virtual conferences, whitepaper syndication, and many more. A good media campaign should have a full media suite. While effective display and rich media banners are certainly major factors in campaign performance, let’s not forget the supporting cast.

Newsletter sponsorships can also be highly effective, and are usually very cost-efficient. They’re effective because they’re already targeting your preferred audience (and you can further dial in your targeting by choosing content-relevant articles or themes). And they’re cost-efficient because they are usually cheaper than direct CPM buys.

Plus, if you have a good media planning and buying team who can negotiate amazing rates for you (ehem), then you may be able to get these newsletter sponsorships as a value-add or at a heavily discounted price.

We include newsletter sponsorships in both B2B and B2C campaigns, and not only do we get good brand visibility, conversion rates and clickthrough rates are pretty good. Sure, sometimes, newsletters get ignored (so pay attention to your open rates) BUT they offer something that display banners don’t: longetivity.

Let’s say you sponsor a newsletter today (you’ll be in any or all of the red spaces marked on the newsletter image above), but the subscriber doesn’t open it because he’s busy. But he doesn’t delete the newsletter, he just saves it for another day.  Newsletters stay in inboxes for days, weeks, even months. We have one B2B client whose newsletter sponsorships keep generating leads up to three months after send date! Three months!

So don’t ignore newsletter sponsorships and the other media placements that aren’t as flashy or attention grabbing as the omnipresent display ad on a website. Pay more attention to the bridesmaid!

newsletter sponsorships should be considered the Pippa Middleton of Online Media

You’ll be pleasantly surprised to realize how your direct response and branding campaigns will benefit from these often-overlooked media placements. And if you need any help, you know where to find us.

Posted in Advertising, Lead Generation, Marketing Trends, Online Media, Paid Search, online marketing | No Comments »

Media Fragmentation and the New Media Multitasker

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 by lblock

New media consumption habits are emerging amongst consumers as a result of the rising popularity of smartphones and tablet devices. According to a recent study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, the average person is now consuming twelve hours of media in only nine hours.

While it was once feared that digital would compete against television’s share of consumer attention, studies are finding that, instead, consumers are simultaneously using both platforms. Reported data indicates spikes in tablet and mobile usage during primetime TV viewing hours, as consumers research and interact with content related to what they are viewing.

Though digital is not necessarily eating away at TV viewing hours the way it was once expected to, studies are showing that the new digital platforms are competing against the traditional desktop computer. A recently study by comScore found that digital platform usage varies widely by both the day and the time of day.

During the work week, desktop usage is at its highest during typical business hours, meanwhile, mobile and tablet usage tends to spike during primetime TV viewing hours.

On the weekends, usage tends to spike for desktop, tablets and mobile in the early morning when people first wake up, but declines during the remainder of the day as people spend time socializing or catching up on errands.

Media Fragmentation and the New Media Multitasker

How do you currently use your digital devices?

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Posted in Online Media | No Comments »

Mini PC Costs Just $25

Monday, January 9th, 2012 by jschlar

In January 2012, The Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK registered charity foundation will begin production on the Raspberry Pi computer. This mini computer is about the size of two credit cards and won’t hurt your wallet at a price of $25 per computer. You can even acquire the optional model for a paltry $10 more. This model (called the Model B) contains an Ethernet port and 256MB RAM. No Ethernet hardware is found in the Model A which holds 128MB of RAM.

The Raspberry Pi was created as a means to let children play with an affordable computer. One of the trustees from the Raspberry Pi Charitable Foundation observed that students and younger children spend less time learning about programming and more time on other activities. Since the idea’s inception, many other groups have approached the foundation and have expressed interest in using the Raspberry Pi for applications that are outside of its original scope as an educational tool. This new product is sure to be far reaching in developed and developing countries due to its highly competitive price.

$25 computer($25 Mini PC)

The Raspberry Pi website references that hospitals, museums and agencies have expressed interest in finding new applications for this device due to its highly affordable price point. We may see all sorts of products containing similar architecture in the future since the Raspberry Foundation is encouraging other companies to leverage the idea.

Specifications for the Raspberry Pi:

  1. Micro USB Power
  2. RCA Video
  3. HDMI
  4. USB 2.0
  5. SD Card
  6. Ethernet port (Model B)
  7. Audio Jack

This mini computer weighs only 45 grams and runs on some versions of Linux, while containing an ARM processor. In the event that you need portability, the device runs well on four AA batteries.

The product will contain exposed computer components.   This will help to keep the price down, but it will also encourage owners to tinker around and explore the mechanics of the computer. Though buyers will eventually be able to get a case for the Raspberry Pi, who knows? People may not want them.  Personally, I think the future looks bright.

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Posted in E-commerce, Marketing Trends, New Technology | No Comments »

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