Search vs. Yellow Pages - The Sequel

Published
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Steve Latham
on August 29, 2008
in General
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Earlier this month I wrote about the migration of consumer habits and media dollars from the Yellow Pages to Search.  I posted a Question on LinkedIn Q&A and even though it took a while, some great answers were provided.  Here are some useful bytes that came in after my last post:

  • From Mike Freedman at Local Directive:

    • Over 60 percent of consumers search for a local business on the internet, and only 33 percent use the yellow pages. [Source TMP Directional, 2007]
    • Almost 40% of local shoppers say that a presence on the internet – or lack of presence – will affect their decision about who they do business with. [Source: Web.com, 2007]
    • In June, 2007, comScore Networks reported that 60% of local consumers now go online to search for local businesses, as opposed to 33% that go first to the printed yellow pages. That same comScore study indicated that 80% of the consumers that search online for a business, a product or a service make an offline purchase at a local store.

  • From Paul Denhup at SearchRevenues.com:
    It will get uglier for YP.  Please find some useful links attached.  YellowBook is trying to capture some of the Search Marketing momentum buy attempting to set up “New Media Specialists” nationally for selling search marketing ads on Google and Yahoo! to their existing clients. For more info read Local Ad Staffs Retool     (Fox News).

  • From Amelia Kasse at MarketingBase:
    Simba publishes several independent studies, including Yellow Pages Market Forecast 2008. Plunkett offers stats in its Advertising & Branding Industry Almanac 2008

It’s pretty clear that YP has some tough times ahead.  While bad for them, it bodes well for search engines (maybe MSN Live still has a chance!), online marketers and tree huggers around the country.

Thanks for all for their input!  Question and comments are welcome!!!

Facebook Apps: Money Maker, Marketing Vehicle or Charitable Donation?

Published
by
Steve Latham
on August 26, 2008
in social media
. 2 Comments

So you want to make money from a Facebook App…

At the recent Barcamp Houston event, I attended a session titled “Facebook App Brainstorming Session”.  I had been thinking about how Facebook Apps could be used from a marketing standpoint, and was excited by the prospect of discussing it with others.  Unfortunately, the guy leading the session was mainly interested in telling the audience about the idea he had for an app.  Being a strong Type A personality, I interrupted the impromptu focus group and asked if anyone wanted to have a more general discussion about Facebook Apps.  Since most of the people in the room also thought that was the subject of the session we were in (kudos to the organizer for drawing a crowd!) a lot of hands were raised.  Convinced I could have a discussion w/ more than a mirror, I left the room and scheduled my own session [if you don't know how Barcamp works, the attendees decide what to discuss - you just find an open slot and put your subject and name on the board].

We had about 30 people show up for our brainstorming session. i kicked it off by posing 2 questions:

1. Can you actually make (real) money from a Facebook App?

2. Can a Facebook App be used for marketing purposes?

Unfortunately, no one in the room had actually developed a Facebook App. However, there were some smart people in the room and we had a great discussion.  Here are the takeaways:

Question 1: Can you make real $$$? While it’s theoretically possible to earn some income from cpm-based ad revenue sharing, we agreed it’s hard to make real money from an App.  Don’t get me wrong - Fun Space formerly known as Fun Wall is cool, but I use it mostly as a video viewer than an App.  Michael Dalesandro had the right app at the right time with Where I’ve Been, but those examples are rare.  Like the domain squatters of 1997, they showed that first movers can sometimes win.  Earlier this year I had dinner w/ the guys (nice kids from Austin) who created the Vampire and Zombie Apps.  They admitted they had just recently started to see some income from the millions of underworld fights they created, but recognized it wasn’t going to last long.  The nights of the Vampire were fading and that they needed to come up with something new, pronto.

This week Techcrunch reported that to date, a mere $8 million has been paid by Facebook to App developers around the world - not much considering the (hundreds of) billions of page views Facebook has had.  However, the article also reports there are some app developers who are making real money (six and seven figures each month) from their apps.  But these aren’t from the traditional cpm revenue shares - read the article to learn more.

Okay, so you CAN make money with a Facebook App.  And new members LOVE APPS! Who wouldn’t want to receive a cupcake???  Well, as much as virtual cupcakes enrich our lives, the novelty eventually wears off and they become a nuisance.  If you’re like me (and at least 499 others in the Facebook group “Stop Sending me damn application requests or I’ll go ape shit on your ass“), you’ve probably removed most of the apps you added when you joined Facebook.

The implications are twofold: 1) Apps have limited lives, and 2) you might want to shoot for the over 30 crowd, as that seems to be where the growth in Facebook members is occurring (ask a 22-year old which apps they are adding these days, but be careful!).

Question #2: Can Apps be used as a marketing vehicle? As above, the answer is “yes, but…” which means it’s possible, but becoming harder and harder.  First, as mentioned, the adoption of apps seems to be inversely correlated to time spent as a member (starts off high, goes down fast).  Second, more and more people are figuring out what all that privacy talk is all about.  I you know that a server knows who you are and is tracking how often you visit “Hot or Not” to see what others think of you, it may be a little settling.

But like all things, there are exceptions. The Causes App has been very successful for many… causes.  Another example is Dell, which jumped on the Green bandwagon (scoring a perfect landing before rumors surfaced of being too young to compete) with its Regeneration contest. The eco-centric campaign relied heavily (and benefited greatly) on the Facebook Graffiti application.  I saw the case study at Ad-Tech and was pretty impressed with how Dell whipped a bunch of environmentally-friendly propeller heads into a graffiti frenzy to promote its contest.  BTW - my entry “Dude you’re getting a Tree!” was not selected as a finalist.

The lesson: why create an app when you can leverage an existing app that is already being used by millions?  This was another one of the pearls that came from our Barcamp discussion.

Charitable Donation?
While there are a few Facebook apps that make money, and others that serve as effective marketing vehicles, those are few and far between.  I’m hopeful that all other apps were conceived, built and distributed with an altruistic, “share-the-fun” objective.  If on the other hand they were built for a commercial purpose, hopefully the owners are business-savvy enough to deduct the cost of building them as a charitable donation to society.

Comments?  Questions?  Let’s hear from you!

BarCamp and Video Blogging

Published
by
Steve Latham
on August 15, 2008
in Conferences
. 4 Comments

Last weekend I attended BarCamp Houston 3, which had more than 150 attendees including enterpreneurs, web developers, marketers and a few media folks.  All in all, it was a great experience with some interesting discussions around social media, Facebook apps, web design, marketing, a new visual search engine, and even biofuels.  One of the most interesting aspects was the Twittering that was taking place along the way.  At least half of the attendees were twittering, often making comments that were better left unsaid.  Yes, you can add “making fun of jerks” to the list of twitter uses.

At the event I was interviewed by local new media guy Mike McGuff who has a video blog site MikeMcGuff.com. Mike interviewed me on the topics of Social Media, our new brand and Lemonade Day.  Mike’s a pretty good video blogger and quite handy with his flip camera.  I didn’t have much notice but thought it turned out okay.  You can view the interview below. Yes, I know, it’s a very flattering title pic… (no worries Mike, I know YouTube doesn’t give you much of a choice).

I’m now wondering if I should add some video to my blog entries.  The answer is probably yes, but I don’t know what I’d shoot or how to edit it.  So I’ll stick w/ text for now, and take advantage of stuff I can find on youtube.

Local Search: Yellow Pages vs. Google?

Published
by
Steve Latham
on August 7, 2008
in General
. 5 Comments

This week I was asked by one of our (prospective) clients for assistance in building a business case to shift ad dollars from the Yellow Pages to Google and the also rans (aka Yahoo and MSN).  After putting the word out that a $10 Starbucks gift card awaited the first Spur employee to find some good data, I put the question out on LinkedIn Answers (often a great venue for connecting with gurus who can answer tough questions).

I realize I’m a bit spoiled by the immediate gratification I often find online; so after 15 minutes passed without a single no LinkedIn answer, I decided to do some research myself.  What I found should be of interest to all marketers who rely on Yellow Pages for local advertising.

According to Search Engine Watch: This year, local advertisers are expected to shift $13.1 billion of their budgeted funds to the Internet, according to Borrell Associates. The number is up 50% over last year. In 2009, local online ad spending is projected to grow another 40% to $18.2 billion in 2009″… “Online advertising is cheaper than traditional methods of marketing and is thought to be the reason for the change. According to Borrell, internet CPMs average $3.65, the lowest of any media, while an offline Yellow Pages ad carries an average CPM of $9.29.”

My take: In addition to lower CPMs, search is much more targeted, actionable and measurable.   And it’s increasingly becoming a preferred way to find local vendors quickly and easily by people of all ages.

I also found some interesting info at RBR.com that compared the fate of Yellow Pages to that of newspapers in recent years: “…the recession is forcing small-business advertisers to be more careful with their ad budgets. Over the next five years, Borrell is predicting 39% of the ad spending on print yellow pages revenues will vanish as small businesses shift marketing budgets online… The key drivers of these changes are broadband penetration and the growing sophistication of search engines and interactive directories. Between 2005 and 2007, 10.4 million adults stopped using the yellow pages “during the past month.” Assuming Borrell knows what they are talking about, those are some compelling stats!

Since I started writing this blog, I have received a good response from LinkedIn!  Chris Reyes from Chicago cited an article that are worth a look.  According to Merchant Circle those that don’t find YP effective allocate 45% of their ad budget to online.  While this isn’t surprising, I thought the next finding was: even the most satisfied YP customers allocate 30% of their budget to online.
So it’s clear that dollars are shifting away from YP to the Web.  What I’d REALLY like to know is how they compare in terms of ROI.  If you have info on the comparative performance of each channel, the same Starbucks gift card offer holds - if you have good data please share it!
If you’ve read this far, I’d like to pose the question to you: where do you spend your dollars for local advertising?   And what would you need to know in order to convince your CEO it was time to adjust your media mix to meet the needs of today’s consumers?

Online Marketing Summit, Media Post and Google Alerts

Published
by
Steve Latham
on August 4, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

Last week was a busy one.  The Houston stop of the Online Marketing Summit was a great success with 250+ in attendance.  With 2/3 of the audience representing brands (vs. agency and media), it made for some interesting conversations.  For a synopsis of the event, and to learn more about online marketing, visit the OMS Blog.  For the 4th time this tour, I presented my “Business Case / ROI presentation” to what seemed like a very interested crowd.  At least no one fell asleep (but then again I had a morning session).  OMS is in Portland and Seattle this week.  I’ll connect back up with them in Atlanta and Denver in two weeks.

On a different note, I was very pleased to see that Media Post published my article “5 Steps to Overcoming Barriers to Online Marketing” last week.  Thanks to my handy Google alerts (everyone should track their company as well as their own name), I saw that another blog site referenced my article.  Ironically, they thought I was a Media Post writer, rather than a contributing author.  I guess that’s not a bad thing…?

If you can’t log in to Media Post, you can read the full article in the Insights section of our web site.

Lastly, I hope everyone in H-town can make this week’s Houston IMA luncheon featuring author Nita Rollins. Should be a packed house and a great event.  Hope to see you there!

Please remember your comments are always welcome.  We’d hope to hear from you!

“Blogging for Business” Recap and Slides

Published
by
Steve Latham
on July 26, 2008
in General
. 0 Comments

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating on a social media panel at the Houston Technology Center along with Katie Laird and Kelsey Ruger. I didn’t see any glowsticks, cell phones or lighters swaying in the audience, but I heard good things and thought you might be interested in learning more.

After Kelsey spoke about social media from a sociological perspective, I presented the business case for Social Media and discussed why brands have to embrace it, and how they can measure the impact on their business. To learn more, you can view my presentation below or on slideshare. Katie then spoke about how to implement a social media program. You can view their presentations via the links above.

If you have thoughts, comments or questions regarding social media, I’d love to hear from you! Also feel free to Join me on facebook or Follow me on Twitter.

Business Case For Social Media Steve Latham 20080725nc

Notes from the Road: Your Unmet Needs?

Published
by
Steve Latham
on July 24, 2008
in General
. 0 Comments

Over the past 10 days I’ve had the opportunity to speak with marketers in Milwaukee, Chicago and Boston (via the OMS tour) about interactive.  Regardless of industry, markets or size, there are some common threads that run through most organizations.  The common challenges are:

1) Figuring out what to do and where to start (paid search, natural search, email marketing, display advertising, social media (and its 31 flavors), ecommerce, video, rich media, sms, etc.). In other words they  need a Strategy.

2) Measuring activity and translating web metrics into business results (e.g. leads, sales, revenue, ROI).  This is especially challenging for those who rely on their web presence to seed and support offline transactions (in other words, 99% of U.S. companies).

3) Educating upper management on the benefits, opportunities and threats represented by digital media.

If these happen to be your pain points too, you’re in good company.  Even though we’ve been in the digital arena for a decade, most marketers are still scratching the surface in terms of maximizing value from their web presence and leveraging digital media.  Most admit there is much more to be done before they can say they’re doing a sufficient job.

The good news is that the models have been proven, the documented successes are there and the path to online marketing success is becoming much clearer.  So there is hope, and a lot to be excited about.  Now get back to work!

BTW - for some ideas on how to address the issues above read the article Overcoming Barriers to Online Investment.  You can also check out the OMS blog where I explain how to calculate ROI from online marketing.

Let’s hear from you! If you have thoughts or questions re: these issues, please comment!

And if you like what you read, please feel free to share with your friends.  Click “share this” below for details.

Thanks for your time!

Conference Recap – Part 1

Published
by
Steve Latham
on July 16, 2008
in Conferences and Spur Interactive
. 1 Comment

If you missed Internet Retailer, AD-Tech, the Internet Ad Bureau conference or Online Marketing Summit, you’re in luck!  Below are some of the highlights and takeaways from the conference.  Feel free to share with your colleagues!

GENERAL STATS:

The Web continues to grow in importance to all of us:

  • Ecommerce will exceed $550bn globally and $200 billion in the U.S. in 2008, still accounts for less than 4% of U.S. retail sales
  • IBM reported that adults spend almost as much time online as they do watching TV: 60% of adults spend 1-4 hours online each day (66% watch 1-4 hours of TV)
  • Teens spend 20% more time online than they do watching television (13 hours / week)

Online advertising remains one of the economy’s fastest growth markets…

  • Digital ad spend is expected to exceed $26bn in 2008 (up 23% from 2007) and $41bn by 2011.
  • Digital now comprises 7.5% of ad spend (up from 5% in 2006).
  • 85% of B2B marketers are increasing online budgets in 2008.
  • GM is shifting 50% of its $3bn ad budget to digital
  • McKinsey reported that by 2010, 2/3 of CMOs expect to spend more than 10% of ad budgets online. 11% expect to spend more than 50% of budgets online. More than 2/3 of respondents believe online media is more efficient than traditional advertising.

Traditional media channels are struggling (Geoff Ramsey, eMarketer)

  • Radio ad spending is expected to contract 3% in 2008
  • Newspaper ad spend is expected to contract 8% in 2008

Many still struggle with online marketing (Chris Vollmer, Booz Allen Hamilton)

  • #1 pain point: inability to measure effectiveness of online efforts
  • Also of note: brands need to improve integration of all activities (creative, media, reporting, analysis).
  • Only 25% of respondents felt they were sufficiently savvy to manage the entire interactive process.

Leaders are taking action to put in place:

  • Metrics and capabilities to assess impact of digital efforts
  • ROI dashboards
  • New positions to coordinate integration of efforts and agency relationships

Leading digital agencies and media companies…

  • Invest to help marketers “get it”
  • Link metrics to marketer brand/business objectives
  • Don’t just sell ad space – they sell solutions
  • Turn Consumer Insight to Marketer Foresight

Trends

  • The line between “above the line” and “below the line” is becoming blurred.
  • The need for accountability and an increase in younger CMO’s will drive digital. Of all media channels, TV may get hurt the most.

Our Inaugural Blog Posting!

Published
by
Steve Latham
on July 14, 2008
in General and Spur Interactive
. 4 Comments

We at Spur Interactive are very pleased to introduce you to our new brand and our new blog. We’ve been meaning to launch a blog for more than a year, but kept finding reasons to put it off. With our rebranding and launch of our new site (don’t worry – this is just phase 1) we decided it was time to execute on this part of our plan and launch our blog site. So here it is – we hope you’ll enjoy.

I just arrived in Milwaukee (originally pronounced “mill-e-wah-que” which is Algonquin for “the good land.”) and am preparing for tomorrow’s launch of the 2008 Online Marketing Summit tour which will hit 11 cities in July and August. Spur Interactive is a sponsor and I’m speaking about measuring ROI and building a business case for interactive. I’m hoping for a few lighters, a standing O and maybe a “freebird!” request. But in truth I’d settle for knowing my presentation helped a few marketers build the business case they need to get management buy-in to their interactive plans. I also need good marks or I’ll be relegated to moderating panel discussions, so I still have some work to do on my presentation. BTW - if you want a copy of my presentation, send me a note!

On the subject of events, here are a few to put on your calendar:

July 25 - Houston Technology Center presents Blogging for Business
Join local thought leaders, including yours truly, to learn how social media can work for your business. For details visit www.houstontech.org.

July 29 - Online Marketing Summit comes to Houston
Fresh off the heels of stops in Milwaukee and Chicago, OMS is coming to Houston on July 29 with new content and industry leading speakers, brand practitioners, and educators. To learn more visit www.onlinemarketingsummit.com.

September 18 - HiMA presents Interactive Strategies ’08
The Houston Interactive Marketing Association presents the 2nd annual Interactive Strategies (IS) conference: Secrets Exposed. Attendees will learn about the secrets to success for digital media, which includes mobile, video, email, websites, and more. For details visit www.is-conference.com.