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Welcome to the The Marketing Source e-newsletter! Our goal is to provide you with real-world marketing tips.If you have any ideas for articles, please send them along.
Emerging Media! Make Sure You're in "The Know."
Husband and wife Ben and Mena Trott, laid off from jobs during the dotcom bust around 2001, found themselves in San Francisco with plenty of spare time. Ms. Trott started blogging--posting to her online journal Dollarshort--about "stupid little anecdotes from my childhood". For reasons she can't explain, Dollarshort became very popular. The Trotts decided to build a better "blogging tool", which they called Movable Type. Movable Type is now the software of choice for celebrity bloggers.
Five-and-a-half centuries after Mr. Gutenberg first used movable type on a printing press, "Movable Type" is just one example of media innovations that have boomed over the last several years. And more are cropping up every day. Through enhanced computers, mobile communication and user-friendly applications, you have access to a whole platform of media opportunities that simply didn't exist in the mainstream marketplace five years ago.
A recent study by eMarketer shows that a large percentage of marketers plan to spend on these emerging advertising tactics, with Podcasts, blog sites and video ads leading the charge. About 40% of marketers will add Podcasts to their campaigns and 35% will spend on in-house blogs in the near future. And 27% plan to spend on video ads.
So what does that mean for you and your marketing? The obvious benefits of this media revolution are an explosion of creativity and more alternatives for getting your messages out. But there's no benefit to jumping on the latest technology bandwagon just because you can. Any investment you make in new media should be because it strongly supports your marketing objectives.
Here's a quick look at some current emerging media alternatives. Next month we'll give you some tools and tips on the right ways to use them.
Blogging
A new blog is created every second of every day according to Technorati, a search engine for blogs. The "blogosphere" is doubling in size every five months. Blogs, short musings or commentary posted to a sort of on-line diary, usually have a raw, unpolished authenticity and individuality.
Blogs have given a voice to just about every topic you can imagine, and are widely used by companies, individuals and publications. Besides text and hypertext, posts can also contain pictures ("photoblogs") and video ("vlogs"). Each post is stored on its own distinct archive page, the so-called "permalink", where it can always be found.
YouTube
YouTube is a popular, free video sharing website that lets users upload, view, and share video clips. Videos can be rated; the average rating and the number of times a video has been watched are both published. Acquired by Google, Inc., in October 2006 for $1.65 billion, the site is increasingly used for promotional purposes. YouTube has fostered numerous break out stars including bands, public relations campaigns and more.
Advergaming
Advergaming is the practice of using games, particularly computer games, to advertise or promote a product, organization or viewpoint. The term "advergames" was coined in Wired magazine's "Jargon Watch" column in 2001. Advergames theoretically promote repeated traffic to websites and reinforce brands. Users are frequently asked to register for prizes as part of the game, which can help marketers collect customer data. Gamers also can invite their friends to participate, helping to increase word of mouth or "viral" marketing.
SMS Messaging
Short for "short message service", these messages are particularly popular among young urbanites. Services that provide bulk text message sending are becoming a popular way for clubs, associations, and advertisers to quickly reach a group of opt-in subscribers. In many markets, the service is relatively cheap. While this advertising has proven to be extremely effective, some insiders worry that advertisers may abuse the power of mobile marketing and that it will someday be considered spam.
Podcasting
A podcast is a media file distributed by subscription (paid or unpaid) over the internet, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. They were originally developed for users to create their own "radio," though many new opportunities have emerged from the format, including school lessons, audio "white papers" and much more. Podcasts can be distributed from podcast libraries, personal web pages, or blogs. Video podcasts are also a popular form of advertising.
Widgets
These computer gadgets are developing as we speak. Companies like Google, CNN, Yahoo, Weather.com, and thousands of others are creating small, multi-purpose desktop tools that allow users to always stay connected - with or without the web. Forward-thinking businesses are already offering free widgets online in the hopes of increasing visits to their web sites.
Is your media stuck in the dark ages? Looking for ways to maximize customer communication? Catch up on the innovations in emerging media. They may be just the boost you need to get to your target audiences and reinforce your traditional media campaigns.
Coming up in March: Get the how-to on using these innovative new tools to enhance your marketing strategies.
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