Marketing Articles About Demand Search Results
Results for: demand
37 items found:
- Toyota Seeks 2010 Recovery of Lost U.S. Sales. Toyota Motor Corp. set a 2010 goal of regaining most of the U.S. market share lost in the past two months after global recalls of 8 million vehicles damped demand, the No. 2 U.S. sales executive said.
(03/11/10 09:00 PM)
- Chile’s Peso Not ‘One-Sided Bet’ Investors See, Pimco Says. Chile’s peso will begin weakening late this year as the country’s worst earthquake in 50 years slows economic growth and record-low interest rates sap demand for fixed-income assets, Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Guillermo Osses said.
(03/11/10 09:00 PM)
- Affiliate Network Helps Business Reach Target Market. In today's difficult economy, businesses are seeking to find better choices to invest their marketing dollars. In response to the demand for increased return on investment (ROI), businesses ar...
(03/11/10 09:01 AM)
- Requirement Management Tools - Gather Space. "Gather Space" requirements management tools is a kind of on-demand tool and it provides web-based soluti...
(03/11/10 09:01 AM)
- MIT Media Lab Unwraps Its New Digs.
The building will now host MIT's most storied hothouse for interactive design innovation. 
Last Friday, MIT opened the doors on it's newest big budget building, a spacious complex for the MIT Media Lab. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki Associates, with project architect Leers Weinzapfel Associates, it's a departure from some of the bold experiments scattered around the campus, by starchitects such as Steven Holl or Frank Gehry. It's a fairly straight-laced building, designed to inspire collaboration.

At six stories and 163,000 square feet, occupants shouldn't be squeezed for space anytime soon. The labs--ranging from the Tangible Media group, which focuses in interaction design; to the City Car project, which is designing on-demand transit systems; to Lifelong Kindergarten, which designs educational technology--each get big, wide-open, two-story studios. The architect dubs these "atelier style" spaces--that is, something as airy as a factory floor, but a bit more human scaled.
But the design's smartest features are quiet. The building is organized across a huge central atrium. But on either side of the atrium, the floors are offset. That simple detail means that denizens can look across the atrium, and see those from other labs, busy at work. The idea is that by making the community always visible, the architecture will be able to engender a cross-pollination of ideas. Here's a picture that hints at the effect, via Dwell:

Meanwhile, the few splashes of color are reserved for the atrium's staircases--and the specific color scheme is borrowed from Piet Mondrian. (It also nods to the colors in IM Pei's original MIT Media Lab building, which is attached to the new one.)
Notice how the stairs are bowed out in the middle--they're actually an infographic of sorts, showing the stress loads borne by each section of the span:

For more pictures and information, check out Dwell and CNET.
[Top two photos by Andy Ryan for MIT; bottom two by Tiffany Chu via Dwell]


(03/11/10 09:00 AM)
- Japanese Stocks Rise on Outlook for Economy, Iron-Ore Demand. Japanese stocks advanced on speculation increased demand will boost earnings at iron-ore producers and that the nation’s economy is recovering.
(03/10/10 09:00 PM)
- Yen Strengthens After China Reports Show Inflation Quickened. The yen rose after Chinese economic reports fueled concern the government will introduce measures to temper growth, sparking demand for Japan’s currency as a refuge.
(03/10/10 09:00 PM)
- Crib Sheet: Padmasree Warrior, CTO of Cisco Systems.
Cisco's big announcement recently about how its new product was going to change the Internet for the better got the tech community very excited--not to mention the financial world, as the company's share price rose to a 52-week high. And then, yesterday, they launched the thing--a datacenter-level router that should give mobile Internet a bit more "poke." But for some time, Fast Company has known that, for Cisco's shares to go through the proverbial roof, would be somehow to clone its CTO, the absolutely brilliant Padmasree Warrior, and make her available in every home.
Ms. Warrior (who recently said on Twitter that if she'd had a choice in her own name, it would have been "The") truly is the future of the tech industry. Basically, she's the human face of all those big, swinging tech players who we all revere but somehow wonder just how normal they are. A working mother, she was born in India and moved to the U.S. after gaining a BS at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. Just 16 at the time, she describes it as the major transition of her life, "more than being CTO of Cisco or coming to the U.S., because I was very young."
"I visualize work and family as incongruent and in conflict with each other. It's tough, but I try to maintain this seamless integration (of family, community, self and work.)" She's on the board of Chicago's Joffrey Ballet and the Museum of Science and Industry, and holds a bunch of directorships. She spends her free time (just how much has she got these days?) with her family and friends, and, given that's she's gone on record as saying she likes going to concerts, we thought we'd spice up her Crib Sheet with a bunch of lyrics. Extra points to commenters who can identify the artists.
This is Major Tom to ground control, I'm stepping through the door, And I'm floating in in the most peculiar way: "I am still commuting back and forth, my family lives in Chicago. Hopefully I will get more proficient in going back and forth between the two cities." One thing that Cisco's teleconferencing tech can't solve, it seems.
Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC, Didn't get to bed last night: Last month, Warrior was part of a U.S. delegation to Russia, alongside Ashton Kutcher and Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Rumors of Cisco Systems' acquisition of ChatRoulette have yet to be substantiated--although we could start the ball rolling right here.
War, Hurghhh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothin' (say it again): "Biological warfare debases my concept of humanism."
Three (Is the magic number): The most influential people in her life are her parents and her husband. "My Mom taught me the power of love. I learned to focus on the long-term big picture from my father. His sense of humor and light-hearted approach always make me smile. My husband is a pivotal anchor in my life. His influence encourages me to be independent and take risks."
Years go by, I'm lookin' through a girly magazine, and there's my homeroom angel on the pages in between: "If I had to pick three of my favorite magazines they would be Fast Company, Silicon India, and Smithsonian.
Got no butler, Got no maid, Still I think I've been overpaid: "I would have dinner with P.G. Wodehouse. I have read all of his books at least ten times over. I am a great fan of his character Jeeves, the English Gentleman's perfect valet. His intellectual brilliance and audacious sense of humor fascinate me. Dinner with P.G.W. sounds simply scrumptious."
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, Trash it, change it, mail - upgrade it: "Tech is all about building human connections."
Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen, warm my mind near your gentle stove: "It seems in my home all important decisions are made in the kitchen:) Is the kitchen the center of gravity in your home?"
On your video phone, make a cameo, tape me on your video phone, I can handle you: "I'm most excited by the evolution of entertainment and content over the next five years. In the past five years we saw it go from passive consumption to on demand, and going forward it's always on demand and that's where the mobile comes in. The screen is going to be with you, no matter where you are."
Face to face my lovely foe, mouth to mouth, raining heaven's blows: "If we had our way, [a virtual World Economic Forum] would be a year or so [away.] But in some cases, you really do need to meet and talk."
[Via ZDNet.com, Beet.tv, WITI, livemint.com. Photo via Twitpic]


(03/10/10 09:00 PM)
- Meeting Business Demands. Are you in the process of reassessing the structure of your business? Are you complaining about how you're not getting enough sales, poor time management, or how you're not acquiring new clients...
(03/10/10 09:00 AM)
- Asian Stocks Fall, Led by Mining Companies as Metal Prices Drop. Asian stocks fell, led by materials companies on concern Chinese demand for metals may stagnate.
(03/08/10 09:00 PM)
- Steel Authority of India Seeks Japanese Technology Partner. Steel Authority of India Ltd., the nation’s second-biggest producer, wants to join local rivals in forging a technology joint venture with a Japanese partner to make higher value products amid surging demand.
(03/07/10 09:00 PM)
- Yelp CEO Responds to Class-Action Lawsuits Alleging Extortion.

Yelp has been the subject of fairly continued grumblings, some louder than others, that its ethics are less than stellar--and last week, the user-generated reviews site got hit with an official class-action lawsuit making those grumblings legal accusations. Even worse, yet another (very similar) lawsuit just emerged, accusing Yelp of the same underhanded tactics. Today, Yelp's CEO, Jeremy Stoppelman, responded on the official Yelp blog.
Essentially, the rumors of ethical misconduct all come back to an alleged "pay to play" tactic. Yelp is accused of offering to remove or downgrade negative reviews if the business in question purchases advertisements on the site. If that's true, a judge could agree that it sounds exactly like extortion or, at the very least, a huge disservice to the users who rely on Yelp. In the past, users have quietly come forward to voice their concerns and frustrations with the tactic, but accusations are now specific enough to name the exact dollar amounts supposedly demanded by Yelp. And this is the first lawsuit that's actually been filed, so Yelp is taking it very seriously--there have been four blog posts in the past two weeks defending the site.
Today's example features CEO Jeremy Stoppelman calling the claims "false and easily refuted" and "without merit," and accuses the lawyers involved of pursuing a "frivolous" lawsuit purely for a cash settlement. He even notes that the suit came in the wake of Yelp's latest round of financing, and that the plaintiffs may just be trying to cut themselves a piece of that cash. These misconceptions are also fueled by lawyers, who may have heard about Yelp's recent financing round
and may be seeking a share. So it's no surprise that today another
lawyer has filed a virtually identical lawsuit making the same
inaccurate claims. (Don't worry; they're still not true.)Stoppelman admits no guilt or shades of gray in the post, stating, "We will fight [the suit] aggressively and I believe we will win." He's quite confident throughout the post, despite the fact that these rumors have dogged Yelp for years. From the tone of the article, it seems like Yelp would rather take it to court than try to settle beforehand--we'll keep you updated as to when the next step is announced.
[Via Yelp]


(03/05/10 09:01 AM)
- Why Would You Want to Learn Copywriting?. Online business has added to the growing demand for copywriters or good writers who can easily supply a number of articles daily or weekly to drive traffic to their website site and persuade potential...
(12/06/09 09:00 AM)
- Why Would You Want to Learn Copywriting?. Online business has added to the growing demand for copywriters or good writers who can easily supply a number of articles daily or weekly to drive traffic to their website site and persuade potential...
(12/06/09 09:00 AM)
- Why Would You Want to Learn Copywriting?. Online business has added to the growing demand for copywriters or good writers who can easily supply a number of articles daily or weekly to drive traffic to their website site and persuade potential...
(12/06/09 09:00 AM)
- Why Would You Want to Learn Copywriting?. Online business has added to the growing demand for copywriters or good writers who can easily supply a number of articles daily or weekly to drive traffic to their website site and persuade potential...
(12/05/09 09:00 AM)
- Why Would You Want to Learn Copywriting?. Online business has added to the growing demand for copywriters or good writers who can easily supply a number of articles daily or weekly to drive traffic to their website site and persuade potential...
(12/05/09 09:00 AM)
- Why Would You Want to Learn Copywriting?. Online business has added to the growing demand for copywriters or good writers who can easily supply a number of articles daily or weekly to drive traffic to their website site and persuade potential...
(12/05/09 09:00 AM)
- Copywriting for Speakers: Can You Write Scripts? . Copywriting is a huge field, and even if you're an established copywriter, chances are that you haven't considered audiovisual copywriting. This a profitable niche because the demand for scripts for p...
(09/16/09 09:00 AM)
- Web Copywriting - How Copywriting Helps The Success of a Website. There's no doubt that one of the greatest growth in Copywriting industry right now comes from the niche of web copywriting. The demand is ever increasing due to the fact that the 2 most important clie...
(06/19/09 09:01 AM)
- MarketingSherpa Seeks Case Study speakers for 2009 B2B Demand Generation Summits. If you have a great B2B story to tell, think about sharing it with other B2B marketers at MarketingSherpa’s 6th Annual B2B Demand Generation Summit 2009. MarketingSherpa is looking for speakers for the events which will be held September 23-25...
(04/24/09 09:00 AM)
- 5th Annual MarketingSherpa Demand Generation Summit 2008. You're invited to join me at MarketingSherpa's Demand Generation Summit at your choice of Boston (Oct 5-7) or San Francisco (Oct 26-28.) I'll be speaking on "Playbook for Effective Lead Management." This year's the summit will have 19 new case...
(02/25/09 09:00 AM)
- The 2008 Top of the Funnel List. Craig Rosenberg recently created a list of the most influential people in B2B Demand Generation, and I’m honored to have been included. Many know Craig through his blog, Funnelholic, or through his company Tippit. Funnelholic is a very insightful and...
(02/25/09 09:00 AM)
- ITSMA: Elevating Demand in a Crowded World . Generating demand has become a top priority for most companies in today’s slower environment. The most successful programs are much more targeted than in past years and favor quality over quantity. You're invited to join me at ITSMA's (IT Services...
(02/25/09 09:00 AM)
- To CEOs Cutting Budgets: "Cheap is Expensive" . What a dilemma! You are asked to reduce budget, cut costs, reduce expenses. However, you need your BEST to gain market share, compete for customer dollars and emerge from the recession as a winner. You need the best employees, technology, service, partners, vendors, and agencies so you can outsmart and out-execute competition. You need the best to drive demand when marketing rules are being reinvented by customer conversations. You need the best because, more than ever before, the quality of your inside is visible to the outside, and that market is judging with their wallets.You’ve been reading (perhaps experiencing) about recent company layoffs. I’m guessing most companies are making lay off decision based on roles the business needs, but also employee performance. It would seem obvious that every company wants to keep their best people. Although I’ve heard of companies that offer voluntary attrition with a healthy severance package. You know who takes that package? The best employees. What’s left at that company? Well…fewer of those best employees. Again, the quality of your inside is visible to your outside. The quality of a company is a function of the quality of people it keeps. At Bazaarvoice, we go to great lengths to hire the best employees, and it has made a significant difference to our performance, which is a function of the performance we deliver for our clients. But imagine if we didn’t hire the best. Imagine if we hired the cheapest employees, or had no discipline in our hiring...
(02/24/09 09:00 AM)
- To CEOs Cutting Budgets: "Cheap is Expensive" . What a dilemma! You are asked to reduce budget, cut costs, reduce expenses. However, you need your BEST to gain market share, compete for customer dollars and emerge from the recession as a winner. You need the best employees, technology, service, partners, vendors, and agencies so you can outsmart and out-execute competition. You need the best to drive demand when marketing rules are being reinvented by customer conversations. You need the best because, more than ever before, the quality of your inside is visible to the outside, and that market is judging with their wallets.You’ve been reading (perhaps experiencing) about recent company layoffs. I’m guessing most companies are making lay off decision based on roles the business needs, but also employee performance. It would seem obvious that every company wants to keep their best people. Although I’ve heard of companies that offer voluntary attrition with a healthy severance package. You know who takes that package? The best employees. What’s left at that company? Well…fewer of those best employees. Again, the quality of your inside is visible to your outside. The quality of a company is a function of the quality of people it keeps. At Bazaarvoice, we go to great lengths to hire the best employees, and it has made a significant difference to our performance, which is a function of the performance we deliver for our clients. But imagine if we didn’t hire the best. Imagine if we hired the cheapest employees, or had no discipline in our hiring...
(01/28/09 09:00 PM)
- Liberate Your Marketing By Setting Boundaries.
This is the article that I wrote this month for adotas. The idea here is that so often, marketers are consumed with all of the media and hype around them that we neglect to setup proper boundaries and filters for ourselves and for our teams to ensure that we're truly able to focus on our marketing mission, only letting that which will truly benefit our organization onto the marketing plan.
â??Donâ??t fence me inâ?? is the mindset of most marketers and creative
members of your team. The last thing we typically want is to have
boundaries on our time, creativity and choices. Boundaries, however,
are what keep you and I focused on the business of marketing and others
focused on sales and still others focused on finance and operations.
The ability to set, express, and maintain boundaries is an essential
part of any healthy marketing department. Boundaries build â??win-winâ??
relationships by making clarifying needs and limits, while opening the
field on what options are available for meeting marketing objectives.
More specifically, setting marketing boundaries around both new and
legacy marketing tactics allow you to focus on those things that matter
and only pursue those ideas that pass through your well-established
marketing boundaries, ensuring a higher degree of success.
What do marketing boundaries look like, and how can you know where and how to set them?
Peter Block, author of Flawless Consulting, says that â??If you canâ??t
say â??no,â?? your â??yesesâ?? donâ??t mean a thing.â?? Thatâ??s so absolutely true.
In marketing, if we canâ??t say â??NOâ?? to those things that seem to beg at
our budgets and demand our time, weâ??re hamstrung in trying to
accomplish those things that weâ??ve already said â??yesâ?? to. In order to
keep our yes and no categories in check, there are five key boundary
setting techniques that I recommend for all marketers.
Learn to say The Positive â??NOâ??: Yes, you can say
â??noâ?? positively. Knowing that your â??noâ?? answer leads to increased
energy and focus on the â??yesesâ?? youâ??ve already committed to. To get a
feel for this, look at where you should say â??NOâ?? right now. Sit down
right now and identify the emerging demands on your marketing team,
plan and budget. Identify 5-10 â??NOâ??sâ?? you need to say. Then, for each,
ask yourself, â??What would I be willing to say â??Yesâ?? to in this case?â??
Choose wisely - only what you are willing to do, and can do with the
same energy and focus that youâ??ve committed to apply to your existing
â??yeses.â??
Establish â??gate criteriaâ?? for new marketing vehicles and ideas:
Thereâ??s a tool used in product development called the â??Stage-Gateâ??
method that includes a set of predetermined steps from idea to launch.
By implementing a similar set of procedural steps in reviewing new
marketing ideas, tools, tactics and technologies you will gain a clear
understanding of what you should allow into your marketing mix and
whatâ??s destined for the â??NOâ?? pile. Just as you have a systematic
process for evaluating candidates that you hire onto your marketing
team, you need to establish rigor in what ideas make it onto the
marketing plan.
Equip your team with boundary setting tools: The
best boundary setting tools are of little benefit to an organization if
all of the information and minute decisions are still run though the
head of marketing. When working through the exercise on the â??positive
NOâ?? and setting up your gate criteria, walk you team through the
process and gather their input. When you get to the next iteration,
walk through it with your team again and point out where their input is
included. Repeat until complete.
Transfer ownership of boundaries to your team:
Working through step 3, â??equip your team,â?? will set the stage for
ownership transfer. Once youâ??ve settled on an initial â??NOâ?? list and
have your gate criteria and process established, it should become part
of everyoneâ??s job to ensure that everything is vetted through the new
process and â??NOâ?? test before it comes up for discussion. This way
youâ??ll have a team thatâ??s always focused on the securing the win for
each of your committed â??yesesâ?? but that also knows how to spot a
genuine opportunity when it comes along.
Keep your freedom to choose: When youâ??re not clear
on what you should say no to, itâ??s equally challenging on what to say
yes to. By setting marketing boundaries, youâ??ll free up your thoughts
and energy to focus on what matters most in achieving your objectives,
while simultaneously freeing yourself to make smart choices using your
new â??power of NOâ?? and ideas evaluation methods.
Once youâ??ve established boundaries, a system and criteria for new
marketing idea review and delegate boundary management to your team,
youâ??ll find yourself with more focus, energy and initiative behind
those decisions that you have committed to and will have a fool-proof
system for staying in step with the newest marketing trends without
feeling like youâ??re being carried away on a tidal wave of runaway
marketing ideas.
(04/04/08 09:00 PM)
- Future of Online Retailing -- Four Predictions. Forrester and Jupiter report that more than 70% of online shoppers seek out user reviews before making a purchase decision. MarketingSherpa reports that 84% of consumers prefer the opinion of other consumers vs. experts. Hundreds of retailers including WalMart, Best Buy, HP, and the Home Depot have followed Amazon’s lead by allowing their consumers to review products in the online channel. Consumers demand social commerce solutions and retailers are driving measurable results. As consumers are presented with increasing choices, channels, and messages, they will continue to turn to peers to discover, research, and make decisions about products and services. Retailers will need to utilize technology and best practices to provide authentic, relevant, and effective social commerce solutions to retain their customers into the future. 1) SOCIAL CONTENT IS GOING MULTI-CHANNEL The future of reviews and social content is going beyond the product page and into other channels such as mobile phones, kiosks, print collateral, online advertising, and social networks. It is clear that consumers rely on social content to make purchasing decision. They will expect to be able to access to this content regardless of channel in order to inform their purchasing process. The retailers that provide this multi-channel access will develop competitive advantages in their markets to attract and retain consumers. Additionally, more retailers will see the value of integrating social commerce with CRM and other “back-end” channels. Retailers will start to leverage social content as a key input into driving decisions in marketing, sales, advertising, customer support, and...
(12/09/07 09:01 PM)
- Amazon's Grocery Business. Amazon (AMZN) has quietly launched a grocery-delivery service called Amazon Fresh in its hometown of Seattle. Michael Arrington wonders if Amazon remembers Webvan, the dotcom flameout that spent too much money on trucks and refrigerated warehouses and went through ungodly gobs of cash in the process. But perhaps it's got its eye on Fresh Direct, which has become a fixture in New York City over the past few years. Online groceries can work if you target dense urban areas and extend service only into those areas where the demand is likely to be the greatest. Like most food businesses, it's more of a hyperlocal play (neighborhood by neighborhood) than a national play. The real question is: How many neighborhoods in America can support such a service?...
(08/02/07 09:00 PM)
- Links for 2007-07-06 [del.icio.us].
(07/07/07 09:00 AM)
- Apple Takes Its Bite of iPhone Mobile Service Fees. iPod Originally uploaded by stublog In the competition to carry the iPhone in Europe, it looks like Vodafone (VOD) is balking at Apple's demands; The Guardian reports:Apple is understood to be demanding that its European mobile phone partners hand over a significant proportion of revenues generated by the iPhone and restrict the content that users can access.The portion of network revenues demanded by Apple is believed to have been behind Vodafone's decision not to sign up as the exclusive partner for the iPhone in the UK. ... The iPhone is expected to launch in November in the UK through O2, in France with Orange and in Germany with T-Mobile.So not only does Apple (AAPL) keep all the revenues from the $500 iPhones, but it gets a cut of the monthly service fees as well. I guess even (most) hard-nosed telecom execs have a hard time saying No to Steve Jobs. But if this report is true, good for Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin for sticking to his guns. Update: Another tidbit about the economics of the relationship between Apple and the mobile carriers. Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner models iPhone revenues for Apple to include the entire $500 average selling price plus a $100 bounty from ATT. (This is from a June 28 note of his). Gardner does not model in any cut of the monthly subscription revenues, however. (The $100 bounty would be more like a typical subsidy). So if Apple is also getting part of ATT's monthly fees, not to...
(07/06/07 09:00 PM)
- Microsoft Plays With P2P TV. Video: LiveStation Demo Microsoft Research (MSFT) and a UK-based company called Skinkers are developing peer-to-peer software called LiveStation for streaming live television over PCs. Think of it as a Slingbox Without the Box. (See demo video above). Except that TV stations would have to sign up to stream their broadcasts over the service. Using P2P networks is the most bandwidth efficient (and least costly) way to deliver video over the Internet. Joost, Babelgum, and Veoh also all use P2P distribution techniques in one form or another. But they all deliver videos that are already stored somewhere (their servers or the computers of their members), as opposed to live streams. I'm not sure how difficult it would be for any of these services to offer live streams as well. It doesn't seem like that big a deal. Joost, for instance, is working on (or already has) the ability to synchronize the streaming of a particular show so that you and all of your friends can watch it at the same time while chatting over Joost. Making that a live stream should be easy enough. The bigger question is: On the Internet, does live TV even matter any more? The TV schedule is a product of the historical limitations of broadcast television, where you have to broadcast the same shows to everyone at the same time. But those limitations are falling away. Even in cable and satellite TV, the growth of pay-per-view and on-demand channels proves that if you give consumers more...
(07/06/07 09:01 AM)
- [Experience Manifesto] MOVIE PLACEMENT CREATES DEMAND FOR NONEXISTENT SHOE. http://blog.brandexperiencelab.org/experience_manifesto/2005/02/movie_placement.html The unpaid inclusion of a nonexistent Adidas shoe in the movie The Life Aquatic has sparked a brisk consumer demand for the product. more......
(12/12/06 08:04 AM)
- [A VC] Sell Side Advertising. http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2005/01/sell_side_adver.html ...There is a huge imbalance between the demand for pay for performance advertising and the ability to meet it right now. And the reason is that there are huge inefficiencies in the market. Advertisers have to make choices...
(12/12/06 08:04 AM)
- Trendex: Outsourcing to the Rescue. When demand for his company's bindery products caught him by surprise, Jeff Polacek listened to his customers and built a network of outsourcers to handle Trendex's rapidly increasing business. When P ...
(08/21/06 09:00 AM)
- Tuesdays Contract Management News and Comment (25th July 2006).
Alegent Health Leverages Selectica's Contract Performance Management to Gain Visibility and Control of Contract (SYS-CON Media)
Selectica , a leading provider of configuration, sales execution and contract management applications, today announced the addition of Alegent Health to the growing roster of customers using its on-demand Contract Performance Management solution. Alegent ...
(07/29/06 02:28 PM)
- Is CPA helpful to B2B AdSense campaigns?. Perhaps you've heard of Google's mantra, "do no evil". I was concerned that their going-public would shift the focus of their company towards profiteering, if not evil. As it turns out, they seem to have been too clumsy (and blessed by Wall Street) to be digging for profits.
Staying squarely in the 'no evil' category, the big story this week is that they are testing AdSense payment based on "Cost per action", or CPA. A click-thru would not be enough, the visitor would have to 'convert', or achieve a goal on the website. Advertisers using this model would only pay for traffic that matters, and risk of click-fraud (i.e. evil) would go away. For the sites hosting the ad, a potentially higher pay-off should offset their PPC income.
This sounds great, but there are questions that seem hard to resolve, especially for advertisers like me (which is maybe why Google is only 'testing' CPA).
The obvious technicality is that for a lot of smaller & B2B businesses, the most common 'action' coming from their website is a phone call. And these are the people who also are paying much more per-click in their current PPC campaigns. Which means they have a lot more at risk for click-fraud yet cannot rely on CPA to help due to the untraceable phone call.
The other problem is simply numbers. AdSense needs thousands of impressions just to create PPC activity worth mentioning. And of those clicks, only another 1-2% are going to convert. And because that conversion for small or B2B businesses is not a sale, we aren't going to want to pay a high bounty for 'just a lead' (unless quality can be determined).
Russ Perkins, at InfoCommerce Group, points out a deeper issue in this week's newsletter, titled Does CPA Add Up To Trouble? that this would once-again upset the apple cart regarding the job of advertisers and the publishers carrying the AdSense ads:
"If CPA takes off with advertisers, and I think it will, we have to watch it closely. If it remains limited to publishers getting paid (hopefully a lot) for generating hard sales leads, that's one thing, and a number of us could do quite well in this environment. If it morphs (as I predict it will) to advertisers demanding to pay only when they make a sale, we as an industry have to draw the line. The purpose of advertising is to stimulate interest, not guarantee profits." While the CPA program may flourish with e-commerce businesses, I don't see it gaining a foothold in the B2B sphere.
In addition, I will go one further: As B2B advertisers look closer at their spending and conversion rates with AdSense (as compared to AdWords), they will start to pull out of AdSense.
The next smart place to try is Google's Site Targeting, which is paid on a CPM basis, but allows you to choose what sites to run your ad. That kind of human selection should provide a greater chance of clicks and conversions.
(07/29/06 02:28 PM)
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