Superb internet marketing community & FREE industry reports (no catch!)

I wanted to draw you attention to a FREE resource for those of you who want to benefit from a community of the world’s digital marketing and ecommerce professionals. Econsultancy exists to help its members “sharpen their strategy, source suppliers, get quick answers, compare notes, help each other out and discover how to do everything better online.” I have to say that it is a great source of independent advice and insight on digital marketing and ecommerce.

imho there’s no shortage of marketing opinion online, but being ten years and with 71,000 marketers Econsultancy is pretty special.  Bronze membership is FREE and there is more info here.

These are complimentary reports you get for free upon joining (there’s another 20+ too!).  Great, er, value!

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Online PR Industry Benchmarking Report

By Michelle Goodall and Aliya Zaidi, December 2008

Overview Authors: Michelle Goodall and Aliya Zaidi Pages: 35 Features: Survey-based research about the Online PR Industry, with expert input from respected industry commentators.

Digital Outsourcing Survey Report

By Econsultancy, December 2008

This report, produced in association with Lemon Digital Production, is aimed at agencies who are interested in the business case and challenges associated with outsourcing digital work.

SEO Supplier Showcase November 2008

November 2008

Online Customer Engagement Report 2009

By Econsultancy, November 2008

The third annual Online Customer Engagement Report has been produced in partnership with cScape. This research is based on a survey of 1,300 respondents carried out in September and October 2008.

Email Marketing Briefing – November 2008

By Econsultancy, November 2008

This free, 12-page briefing contains a write-up of an E-consultancy roundtable on Email Marketing held in autumn 2008.

Comparison Shopping Engines Survey Report 2008

By Econsultancy, October 2008

This DoubleClick-sponsored research is based on a survey of retailers and agencies carried out in August and September 2008, with the aim of understanding more about the use of comparison shopping.

Paid Search Marketing Supplier Showcase October 2008

October 2008

Paid Search Briefing – October 2008

By Econsultancy, October 2008

This free, 12-page briefing contains a write-up of an E-consultancy roundtable on Paid Search.

Affiliate Marketing Briefing – October 2008

By Econsultancy, October 2008

This free, 11-page briefing contains a write-up of an E-consultancy roundtable on Affiliate Marketing.

Measurement, Analytics and Optimisation Briefing – October 2008

By Econsultancy, September 2008

This free, 12-page briefing contains a write-up of an E-consultancy roundtable on Measurement, Analytics and Optimisation.

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The Services Econsultancy Provide:

Reports: Econsultancy is an award-winning online publisher of reports covering best practice, user experience benchmarking, market data, supplier selection, template files, trends and innovation aimed at internet professionals who want practical advice on all aspects of e-business.

Training, Learning & Development: Econsultancy operates a highly popular training division, used by the world’s leading brands for staff education, both in-house and via public courses. We provide training across all areas of digital marketing and ecommerce and at all levels from accredited one day courses to formal qualifications including diplomas and a Masters in Digital Marketing.

Events: Econsultancy hosts over 100 events a year, including conferences such as the Online Marketing Masterclasses, Future of Digital Marketing and Digital Cream as well as regular Supplier Showcases, Roundtables, the annual Innovation Awards and a range of social events.

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Free memberships of marketing clubs, and online resources are ten a penny.  You just have to surf, or browse LinkedIn groups to see that.  But Econsultancy is very different.  I’d highly recommend you join if you are an internet professional who wants practical advice on all aspects of e-business.

Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Analyst, Analytics, Blogging, Branding, Business, Buzz, CRM, Customer Experience, Design, Direct Mail, Email, Events, Media, Mobile, Online, Planning, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media, Strategy, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Web, Web2.0, digital, marketing, technology, web 2.0 , development, ecommerce, Econsultancy, Events, Free, learning, reports, Strategy, training

A***MUST READ***Resource for UK Technology research and analysis

There is a new resource for UK technology news and views that you should not miss if you are a marketer working in the UK Software and Services market, or indeed if your company operates in the UK.  It is provided by esteemed analysts Richard Holway and Anthony Miller.

TechMarketView’s flagship product is UKHotViews, a source of informed opinion and comment on the events, issues and players that really matter.

The feed is here or you can subscribe to get a daily email by clicking here.  Just head to the top right and inserting your email address.

This is one of those rare resources that you should read every day, without fail.

Filed under: Analyst, Business, Computer, Computing, IT, News, Research, Strategy, technology , Analyst, Anthony Miller, AR, IT, IT services, News and Views, Research, Richard Holway, Software, technology, UK, UK Hot Views

Please help

Sport Relief

(I should apologise for bringing you here by illicit categorisation and tagging, but I won’t. You might have wasted just 10 seconds. Hopefully you will make the choice to change someone’s world in less than a minute).

Filed under: 2.0, ACL, Adobe, Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Analyst, Analytics, Apple, Awards, BBC, Blog, Blogging, Blogroll, Books, Branding, Business, Buzz, CBS, CIM, CRM, Charity, Colour, Computer, Computing, Conversational marketing, Conversion, Cool, Corbis, Customer service, Data, Deloitte, Design, Direct Email, Direct Mail, EMI, Email, Entertainment, Entrepreneur, Events, Experiential, Facebook, Fairchild Semiconductor, Forrester, Fun, Gartner, Google, IBM, IODA, IT, IT Planning, Ideas and Riffs, Illusion, Imagery, Influence, Infrared, Job, Keywords, Knee, MIT, Mac, Measurement, Media, Microsoft, Mobile, Music, News, Online, Online Video, Open Social, PC, PR, Planning, Power 150, Printing, Public Relations, Punchstock, Quotes, RSS, Religion, Remarkable, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, SPARQL, SQL, Salmon, Scene7, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Second Chance Tuesday, Second Life, Semantic Web, Sinclair, Social Graphs, Social Media, Social Networking, Software, Sony BMG, Spam, Spectrum, Strategy, Surgery, Survival, TV, Tattoo, The Orchard, Tim Berners-Lee, Twitter, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Viral Coefficient, Virtual Worlds, WIFI, WIKI, WOM, Warner Music Group, Web, Web2.0, White Paper, Wired.com, Wordpress, Xerox, Xuuk, Yahoo!, YouTube, ZX, blogs, bob, copywriting, digital, dotcoms, garfield, iStock, ideas, illustration, last.fm, marketing, ogilvy, permission, photography, podcast, sport, startups, stock photography, technology, trust, venture capital, verge, web 2.0, webmasters, wi-fi, word of mouth , 2008, Advertising, Age 5-14, Animals, Anime, Announcements, Answered, Art, Articles, Barack, Basketball, Bible, Big, Big Questions, Blog, Blogging, blogs, Books, Business, Charity, Children, China, Christianity, Church, clinton, Club, Comedy, Commentary, Community, Crime, Culture, Current Events, Daily, Democrats, Design, Economics, Economy, Education, Election 2008, Elections, Eliot Spitzer, English, Entertainment, Environment, Events, Faith, Family, Fashion, Fiction, Film, Food, Friends, Fun, Funny, Games, God, Government, Health, Hillary, Hip-hop, History, Home, Humor, ideas, India, inspiration, internet, Iraq, Islam, Jesus, John McCain, Journal, Kids, Leadership, Life, Links, Love, marketing, Marriage, Me, Media, Misc, Miscellaneous, Money, Movies, Music, Musings, My Life, Nature, News, Obama, Opinion, Parenting, penguin, People, Personal, Philosophy, photography, photos, Physics, Pictures, Poems, Poetry, Political, Politics, Pop culture, Prayer, Projects, Psychology, Questions, Quotes, Race, Ramblings, Random, Rants, Recipes, Reflections, Relationships, Religion, Research, Review, Reviews, School, Science, Sewing, Sex, Shopping, Society, Software, Spiritual, Spirituality, Sports, Stories, Stuff, technology, television, The Page, Theology, Thoughts, Travel, trends, TV, Unanswered, United states, Update, USA, video, Videos, web 2.0, Welcome, Women, work, World, Writing, YouTube

US Marketers Losing Confidence in TV

<Update 03/02/08: More advertising shifts here>

Whether traditional TV advertising has truly lost its power, marketers and advertisers are already eager to find alternatives. The US based Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research’s fourth biennial TV and Technology survey shows a dramatic loss of confidence in the medium as the industry gears up to explore new ad formats and forms of video commercials.

Wow.

There is a bit of me that is surprised that someone somewhere still feels the need to research TV and marketing; but with so much money spent on TV advertising it is very understandable that TV is being scrutinised so heavily, and for so long.

Here’s the science bit…

• 2/3s of C-level-executive respondents said they are watching the medium closely, up from just half two years ago
• 87% of respondents said they were going to be spending more on web ads in the coming year.
• 62% percent of marketers believe traditional TV ads have become less effective during the last two years.
• 50% of marketers reported that when half of all TV households use DVRs, they will cut spending on TV advertising by 12%.
• 87% percent of advertisers believe branded entertainment is the key to TV advertising in the coming year, and 65% of them are eager to try ads in online TV shows.

And emerging technologies continue to lure marketers looking to experiment.

• 43% would like to try interactive TV ads
• 55% are interested in ads embedded in VOD; and
• 32% would like to try ads attached to the set-top-box menu.

With the proliferation of new media, media agencies have stepped up their game to help clients deal with the changes. Two years ago, just under half the agencies reported they were ill-equipped to address changes in TV advertising, whereas only 28% did so this year.

But quite surprisingly it is the creative agencies that are falling behind, according to marketers:

• 47% of them said their agency was ill-equipped to deal with the changes, a mere 8% improvement from two years ago.

By the way the study was conducted in January 08 and is based on a survey of 78 leading advertisers across all major industries and categories in the US.

Filed under: Advertising, Analyst, Business, Forrester, Measurement, Media, Online, Research, Strategy, TV, digital, marketing, technology , ad formats, Advertising, Advertising confidence, ANA, Association of National Advertisers, Forrester Research, TV, TV Advertising

6 factors that make a marketing leader successful

Forrester’s Marketing department do a great job, and they have cut me a very personal email called the Marketing Leadership home page, which has 6 Success Imperatives – the 6 factors that make a marketing leader successful.

Needless to say each imperative leads to a report that I can’t share, but I can share the imperatives themselves!  They are;

1. Harness emerging customer trends.  Find the results of global Consumer studies which expose how consumers change their interaction with brands, media, and each other.

2. Thrive on market and technology change. Markets and technologies change rapidly, and effect how your firm manages consumers, content, processes, and business partners. This imperative will help you set priorities and select the right tools and markets to stay ahead of your competitors.

3. Differentiate the brand experience. Brand loyalty continues to drop as product cycles shorten and consumers turn away from advertising. To differentiate your brand from the pack, and justify high margins, find the latest research on brand and loyalty management.

4. Optimise the marketing and media mix. “Half of the marketing budget is wasted; we just don’t know which half” no longer holds true. With new marketing and media planning tools and methods, you can raise the return on every marketing dollar and develop effective multichannel campaigns.

5. Build influence across the company. The role of the CMO is evolving from “market communications” to corporate business strategy, putting the customer first in everything the firm does.

6. Create and nurture high-performance teams and partnerships. The changing role of marketing forces leaders to review their organisation, skills, and partners.

Sound advise as usual from Forrester, who I have to say have always been my favourite analyst co.

Filed under: Analyst, Branding, Business, Customer service, Forrester, Measurement, Media, Planning, Research, Strategy, marketing, technology , 6 Success Imperatives, Advertising, Brand, change, CMO, Forrester, Leadership, marketing, Media, Research, trends

Eight Business Technology Trends

Bruce discusses The McKinsey Quarterly and their “Eight Business Technology Trends To Watch” ;with a particular emphasis on those trends with an impact on Customer Experience.

As an aside “Business Technology” trends. There’s a phrase that won’t last too much longer.

n.b. 1: Bruce Temkin is Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research focusing on customer experience.

n.b. 2 : Don’t forget the BBC’s review of Technology Impact in 2007, now available in pictures too.

Filed under: 2.0, Analyst, Business, Research, Strategy, Web2.0, marketing, technology, web 2.0 , BBC, Bruce Temkin, Business, Business Technology, Customer Experience, Customer Experience Matters, technology, The McKinsey Quarterly, trends

Crafting Experiences For Younger Consumers

Generation Y is a unique breed of consumers according to analysts at Forrester. And that is why their clients are asking them how they can serve, retain, and build loyalty with this young segment.

But what exactly makes them different from their elders? And how can technology firms (and everyone else for that matter) grab their often fickle attention?

Forrester have created a new stream of research to provide the answers for clients ready to design for Gen Y. Based on an understanding of Generation Y’s social, emotional, and mental makeup, they’ve identified four design approaches for creating experiences that will resonate with young consumers:

 

Source: Forrester Research

* Design approach No. 1: immediacy.
To overcome Gen Y’s fickle attention and broad use of media, firms need to hook Gen Yers in by quickly exposing value and then keeping them interested over time.

* Design approach No. 2: Gen Y literacy.
Because Gen Yers are so influenced by peers and their own communication style, firms need to speak to them authentically and on their level.

* Design approach No. 3: individualism.
Diverse and expressive, Generation Yers respond to experiences that allow them to personalize and customize their interactions.

* Design approach No. 4: social interactivity.
Since Gen Y consumers are very social, firms should consider enabling them to communicate and express themselves.

All this is clearly linked to the debate I hinted at in yesterday’s post. And whilst high technology marketers might not need to worry too much about Generation Y at the moment, it won’t be long until they do.

And the trouble is, their social, emotional, and mental makeup won’t have changed in the interim. In fact it may be even more extreme.

Thinking about it, it might be worth a look in more detail. Its always pays to be one step ahead.

Filed under: Analyst, Design, Planning, Research, Strategy, marketing , Analyst, Design, Design Approaches, Forrester, Gen Y, Generation Y, immediacy, individualism, literacy, social interactivity

Agenda Setters 2007

Silicon.com has come up trumps with its Agenda Setters for 2007.  Take a look at the List and see who’s on it.  Alternatively take a peek at the break downs by Business Leaders,  Technologists, Entrepreneurs, and Media Movers.And for the real trend followers there is the Achievers 2000-07 trackback (which charts the top performers over the last 7 years) and a review of the Panel who was sitting in judgement.

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Extra Stuff from Silicon.com

The world’s 50 most innovative companies BusinessWeek

The world’s 100 most powerful women Forbes.com

Chron 500 – The San Francisco Bay Area’s top public companies San Francisco Chronicle

100 fastest growing tech companies Business 2.0

Filed under: Analyst, Awards, B2B, BBC, Business, Computing, Entrepreneur, IT, Influence, Measurement, Research, Web, Web2.0, marketing, startups, web 2.0 , , Agenda Setters, Business Leaders, Entrepreneurs, innovation, Media Movers, Silicon.com, Technologists

Usability: do’s and don’t’s

I am always plugging e-consultancy and their reports. I’m going to stop. After this last post….

Have you ever wondered if you are spending more or less than other companies on usability? Or wondered which sites you should be looking to for inspiration – i.e. the best-rated UK websites for user experience? What is more, who are the top usability gurus?

E-consultancy has just published the Usability and User Experience Report 2007. This in-depth 64-page report covers the benefits of usability investment and the problems encountered by organisations. It is based on a survey of more than 700 internet marketers.

The findings are divided into the following sections:

• How companies are approaching User Experience
• Budgets and Spending
• Benefits and ROI
• Usability Services
• Barriers to User Experience
• Project Management
• Hall of Fame and Top Gurus

You can download the research report immediately if you are a subscriber (subscription packages start at £149 per year, for access to all our research).

Alternatively it is available as a standalone report for £99.

There is also a free sample available for non-subscribers (429.1 kb .doc that opens automatically)

Filed under: Analyst, Design, Measurement, Online, Planning, Search Engine Optimisation, Strategy, Usability, Web, Web2.0, White Paper, copywriting, marketing, web 2.0, webmasters