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Online Media Needs Innovation, Not a TV Standard

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This is my opinion about the recent IAB, ANA and 4A’s principles for online measurement. If you don’t like rants, or think the advertising associations can do no wrong, stop reading and go back to Lycos. Otherwise, read on and share your reactions in the comments below.

The IAB, ANA and 4A’s recently outlined five measurement principles as part of Making Measurement Make Sense. The objectives, outlined below, are admirable:

  • Define transparent, standardized and consistent metrics and measurement systems to simplify the planning, buying and selling of digital media in a cross-platform environment.
  • Drive industry consensus around a solution.
  • Establish a governance model to support ongoing standards development, manage change and ensure compliance.

The problem is, as someone that has spent the last ten years (gulp) in this industry, the principles and their intended impact are mostly nonsense. [Read more…]

The Hidden Message from SiriusDecisions: Serve Your Audience

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SiriusDecisions’ B2B Sales and Marketing: Forging a New Alliance was an impressive event last week, and I was glad to have the opportunity to attend. Between companies sharing their own cases on sales and marketing alignment and the planning frameworks, examples and data from SiriusDecisions analysts, it was a three day information firehouse.

Underlying the content I saw a common thread: sales and marketing needs to serve prospective customers. Here is my view on how a service attitude towards prospective customers underlies three of the key messages from SiriusDecisions. [Read more…]

LinkedIn is the New B2B Media Powerhouse

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LinkedIn announced 100 million members (with a great infographic) earlier this week and look to be on track for an IPO in the second quarter. The company is profitable, growing, and for the moment, on top of business social media networking. For B2B marketers, LinkedIn cannot be ignored.

Does LinkedIn have a defensible advantage as a B2B media player as they go into an IPO? Will the advertisers driving marketing revenue (approximately one-third of LinkedIn’s revenue) see results and continue investing?

Across multiple clients, LinkedIn has consistently performed well. One thing that has stood out is the engagement of LinkedIn traffic. Whether measuring page views per visit, time on site, or registration rate, LinkedIn has delivered above average results every time.

Here are five reasons I believe LinkedIn has performed well, and what it means for LinkedIn’s future as a B2B media powerhouse. [Read more…]

Online Advertising WILL be Regulated

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Red graphite pencils leaning on stack of thick booksOnline advertising has a major perception problem. Online marketers collect reams of information about everyone, without permission, and profit by using this data to sell advertising. It doesn’t matter what data marketers actually collect and use or if individuals can control the data collection. What matters is perception has turned public opinion, and Congress, against practices in the industry.

Bolstered by reporting like What They Know from the Wall Street Journal, regulatory scrutiny is coming. [Read more…]

Facebook Is Bigger than the Numbers

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Facebook is set to pass Yahoo in 2011, capturing 21.6% of all US online display dollars, according to eMarketer. The number is impressive on its own, particularly since only two years ago, Facebook had developed a huge audience but still had almost no revenue to show for it.

However, 21.6% doesn’t tell the whole story. Facebook is even more important to marketers. Display ad revenue doesn’t capture the investment in community management, pages, content, even advertising in apps.

As a platform, an ecosystem and a media property, Facebook is now second only to Google in its importance to media and marketing.