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A third of mobile marketers aren’t measuring success

Mobile still doesn’t measure up as “important” to most marketers, according to an April 2011 survey by King Fish Media sponsored by HubSpot, Junta42 and Maxymiser. But that could change as more marketers get on board with a mobile strategy. More than six in 10 North American marketers plan to have one within the next year, compared with just a third who already do.

Advertiser reports on mobile tepid

When asked specifically about the ROI of their mobile advertising programs, a plurality of North American companies said they were doing about as well as expected. A quarter of respondents said mobile advertising wasn’t meeting expectations, however, compared to just 13% who said results were better than they had hoped.

Another 27% of companies were not sure how mobile advertising measured up, either because they were not keeping track or for another reason.

There is less measurement of campaigns

The survey also asked companies about their overall mobile marketing campaigns, beyond only advertising. Mobile marketing was still slightly more likely to underperform (10%) than to outperform expectations (8%) among companies that currently have or plan to have a mobile marketing strategy. But here, companies were doing even less measurement of their campaigns.

Just over one in three companies with a mobile strategy said they hadn’t measured its success, and nearly as many could not evaluate performance for some other reason.

At the same time, the report noted that ROI was becoming more important for mobile marketers looking to increase or maintain budget. Two in five marketers with a mobile strategy will have to prove the value of their campaigns in order to continue them, though about a third will continue to track ROI without requiring it to be positive.

Still a small share of marketers budgets

Mobile still commands a fairly small share of marketers’ budgets, but eMarketer estimates total mobile advertising spending in the US will reach $1.1 billion this year, up 48% over 2010.

For complete data charts and story, go to e-Marketer.com

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From: World Advertising Research Center (WARC)

Luxury brand owners seeking to engage affluent young consumers in the US should consider using a range of digital channels, a report has argued.

Specialist consultancy the Luxury Institute surveyed a sample of prosperous individuals under 35 years old, and found they were pursuing increasingly diverse media habits.

Exactly 70% of respondents possess a smartphone, with Apple’s iPhone accounting for 40% of this total, and RIM’s BlackBerry taking a 23% share.

In further demonstration that this audience generally contains a large number of early adopters, 23% of the panel have already purchased an iPad, Apple’s pioneering tablet.

More broadly, 78% of these “wealthy Generation Y consumers” watch online video, measured against 76% regularly reading magazines, and 68% saying the same for newspapers.

Indeed, the combined 100 minutes spent viewing web video and 227 minutes playing back material recorded on a DVR per week exceeded the average 289 minutes allocated to linear TV.

Elsewhere, internet radio is slowly closing the gap on its terrestrial counterpart, as listeners devoted 75 minutes a week to the former medium, and 150 minutes to the latter.

“This is clearly a tipping point, with the rising generation of wealthy consumers consuming media in vastly different ways than anyone did just a decade ago,” Milton Pedraza, ceo, the Luxury Institute, said.

“Luxury firms face a challenge to adapt accordingly but also a tremendous opportunity to engage younger customers.”

Data sourced from the Luxury Institute; additional content by Warc staff, 8 April 2011

From: e-Marketer

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From: e-Marketer

The steady erosion of print newspaper readership and the uptick in online news consumption have many traditional publishers looking to online ad revenue to offset traditional ad revenue declines.

The Pew Research Center identified a 17% increase in the online news audience from 2009 to 2010, while the print newspaper audience dipped 5%, offering validation for a growing reliance on online ad revenue among publishers.

The much higher price tag on traditional advertising packages compared to online packages, coupled with a growing number of ad networks, exchanges and platforms that often sell inventory at prices far lower than premium sites, has led publishers like The New York Times to try to capture additional revenue with a metered paywall.

A brand as renowned as The New York Times is bound to have a healthy number of loyal readers willing to pay for a quality news source. Nonetheless, research indicates publishers transitioning to a “freemium” content model, which offers basic, free access to a product, site or service and requires a premium for more advanced features or access, have their work cut out for them.

The Times’ model, which allows site visitors up to 20 free articles per month before the paywall kicks in, seems reasonable when considering print newspapers require a paid subscription for access to the same content. Still, research indicates online users have different cost expectations for online news, no doubt a reflection of their current ability to find and rely on free news and information.

Findings from the Pew Research Center provided a preview of how readers might feel if newspapers were to erect premium paywalls. At present, only 18% of US internet users have purchased online news content, a number much in line with data from Harris Interactive that indicated only 19% of US internet users are willing to pay for online news.

Such strong opposition from readers not only poses challenges for publishers hoping to erect paywalls, it also has the potential to impact a publisher’s main online revenue source—ad sales. How consumers react and possibly change their viewing habits could affect ad inventory and impression levels.

Its not going to mean the end of advertsing in the New York Times

“There’s the potential for there to be an impact, but I don’t really think it’s going to mean the end of advertising in The New York Times by any stretch,” said eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna. “At the prices they’re starting this at, I don’t see them converting a lot of readers to paying customers, and I think they’re really going to need to keep working the ad-supported side of it.”

Katelyn Watson, senior manager, internet marketing at Shutterfly, currently advertises on online gaming sites that use paywalls. Although the audience, product and experience differs greatly from online gaming sites to online news sites like The New York Times, Watson told eMarketer the same principles can apply for advertising on metered usage sites and can create a positive advertising experience.

“Having a paywall opens up more opportunities for advertisers, for example, the ability to sponsor one-time access to the site on a cost-per-engagement basis. This makes for a much more robust and engaging brand experience than traditional banner advertising,” said Watson.

How will the ads perform behind the paywall?

Marketers may wonder about the potential implication for ad performance behind the paywalls; for advertisers more concerned with audience targeting than brand reach, Watson believes this too offers an opportunity.

”You know people are paying for a subscription, and you may even have access to data that tells you more about them. The quality of the inventory behind the paywall and the price an advertiser is willing to pay is probably better because of that,” she said.

The decision for publishers to offer targeting capabilities based on subscriber data would require publishers to weigh advertiser needs against subscriber privacy rights.

Bombarding consumers with ads could hurt

“If a consumer is paying for premium content and feels their information is being used to bombard them with ads, that’s going to make a bad situation worse, especially among people who already resent paying,” said Verna.

If one thing is for certain, it’s that the relationship among online publishers, advertisers and news consumers is highly susceptible to the slightest of changes made by any party. A publisher’s decision to transition to a freemium content model is one sure to impact both readership and online advertising revenue, and is one the industry is sure to watch closely in the coming months.

By Kim Deleo

Human resources, often referred to as HR, is a term that includes your entire workforce. Outsourcing is a term that denotes subcontracting specific work or duties of your organization, to an outside interest or third party. There are many advantages to subcontracting some of your organization’s duties, and human resources outsourcing can be a valuable investment. Here are some of the reasons to consider this type of strategy.

Recruiting and Development

Recruiting can be a very important part of your current needs. Your entire future depends on the ability to attract talented and enthusiastic people into your organization. Unless you are prepared to devote a great deal of time and money, recruiting may not be very easy. There are many professional HR firms that have the training and knowledge for successful recruitment methods and programs. It may be a good idea to turn this part of the business over to them.

Employee Benefits

If you have a very large company, you will need a completely separate department to handle the administration of employee benefits. This is especially true for things like health care and pension programs. There are several benefits to subcontracting this type of work, and the first one is less full-time employees on your payroll. The fewer employees that you have, the fewer benefits that you have to pay out. This may be the major reason that many companies subcontract duties of their organization.

Another reason to subcontract employee benefits is training. You do not have to go through the time and expense to train employees for the job. Although they may have experience and education, they will still need to be familiar with specifics within your organization, and this takes training time.

Hiring and Firing

Overseeing staffing and company personnel requirements involves hiring and firing. This is an important aspect of many businesses, and sometimes it can become personal. However, for the good of the company, it is best to not involve personal feelings in these issues. When you hire this service from an HR firm, it will be taken care of in a professional manner. The only involvement with the employees will be on a professional level.

Other Duties to Consider

There are many other duties that you can hand over to a professional HR firm. You may decide to have an outside interest take care of training employees and management. You also may use the services of professionals for things like orientation programs and policies.

Man Hours

When you hire outside firms for specific duties, you are logging less man hours. If someone calls in sick for the day, it is not your concern. When someone takes a vacation, you are not responsible for replacing them. You also do not have to worry about extras like vacation pay. You can subcontract one specific duty, or you may wish to let professionals take care of all of your HR duties. The decision is up to you and your needs.

Summary

You will find a great deal of benefits to hiring a professional human resources service for your company needs. These firms can relieve your company of the burden of things like recruitment and training. You may decide to let someone else handle administration of employee benefits, also. Duties like staffing and recruiting may be more efficient, this way. You can make use of human resources outsourcing for one duty, or all of your HR needs.

Spend less time and money by outsourcing your human resources division. Look at human resource outsourcing companies at http://www.humanresourceoutsourcingcompanies.org and uncover how to hire and keep top rated expertise with the most suitable HR outsourcing companies. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kim_Deleo