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Some interesting bits…. and a broken toe March 8, 2010

Posted by journojack in Affiliate Marketing, Hyperlocal, Online marketing, Social media.
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From Gray's Anatomy.
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At the weekend I managed to brake and dislocated my little toe on my size 11 left foot….. By walking into a door frame…..

Very frustrating as cannot move, had to cancel all my meetings and had to endure a terrible experience at the Kings College Hospital A&E.

Anyway as a result I’ve been able to find a few interesting bits to share:

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Leaving Affilinet and the world of affiliate marketing February 4, 2010

Posted by journojack in Affiliate Marketing, Blogs, News, Online marketing.
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Today is my final day working here at affilinet. It’s been a great three years and I wanted to thank all the friends I have made and people i have come into contact with.

I’m having a break for a little bit then looking to get back into the work of paid employment in the summer. I’m particularly interested in local media (after my work with Kingsroad.co.uk),  mobile, video or social media. The last three are all greowth markets in online currently I am keen to expand my knowledge base.

If you think their are opportunties then feel free to get in touch: jack.rutter@yahoo.co.uk

Image: Tim Beach / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Hyperlocal media & Journalism November 18, 2009

Posted by journojack in Blogs, Hyperlocal, New revenue schemes, News, Online marketing.
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Channel 4, the UK's fourth channel, is launche...
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The idea for this blog post came from the reems and reems of online column inches i have come across recently covering hyperlocal. Having an interest in it myself via Cutmedia.com and the first flagship publication Kingsroad.co.uk, i thought i should give my thoughts and allow anybody that is interested to check out the stories I have come across recently.

Recently I went to an event held at Channel 4 by 4ip where they are very keen to try and help young start ups with funding on projects that will help to shape the media industry. Whilst working out if Cutmedia.com could benefit from a partnership with 4ip i met a lecturer from Goldsmiths University called Angela Phillips. She is currently looking for funding with one of her projects, which is also focussed on hyperlocal, although that is all she would tell me!

We discussed the opportunity of hyperlocal and after a while got on to the topic of journalists and how they need to be innovative and play a more proactive role on the business side of their media work. I certainly think they need to pay more attention to how money and profit is generated as part of their business.

Many people in and around journalism fall in love with the romantic idea of the discipline and fail to understand how money and their wages are paid, which i think is  very dangerous. For them journalism is firstly about holding people in power to account, getting a scoop before anybody else and producing killer articles that demostrate the written skills they were born with and secondly a business. I think that this is naive,  especially in the light of the redundancies that have happen across the industry over the last year or so.

There are many ways in which publishers can generate revenue for their businesses and i expect that they will keep evolving over time as the publishing industry reinvigorates itself. The main task publishers face is to create robust products that can pay for for editorial so journalists can go and hold people in power to account, get that scoop and show us all what great writers they are.

Content alone does not pay the wages and the quicker they learn that the better.

New business models for journalism is something that has been discussed in the following articles:

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Lead Generation – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly October 30, 2009

Posted by journojack in Affiliate Marketing, Lead generation, Online marketing.
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Guest post by James Atherton, Search and Affiliates Manager from Online Media Agency Vizeum.

Whilst it never quite descends into the levels of violence seen throughout Ennio Morricone’s film, using the term ‘lead generation’ today in front of advertisers, agency workers or even your average Joe on the street can lead to questioning looks.

How has this happened? Too many times lead generation campaigns have pushed a huge volume of leads of questionable quality, leaving a bad taste in advertisers’ mouths that is only recently beginning to be turned around. Campaigns were based around heavily incentivised creative and featured on poor quality sites resulting in data that bore little or no relevance to the target demographics of the advertiser.

However, as so often happens in online advertising, the landscape has changed. Publishers are placing the emphasis on quality leads, achieved through transparency, accountability and technological developments. Leads can be dependent upon the fulfilment upon a number of criteria, whittling down the number of accepted leads to include only those of real value for the advertiser. Remnant inventory is also leveraged to enable leads to be captured from IASH accredited websites that fit with the target demographic – any incentive to opt in purely for a prize or free offer is also removed. For a mobile phone operator, the content could sit on an established technical review site, with criteria as follows (criteria of up to 20 questions in length is not uncommon):

Are you currently nearing the end of your contract: Yes

Would you be willing to consider a shift to a different operator/network: Yes

Postal/ZIP codes and email addresses are verified, phone numbers qualified by number of digits and names scanned for a set list of false identities – Mickey Mouse etc. Only after these criteria have been met will the lead then by cross-checked against the advertiser’s database in real time to determine if that contact is already in their system. Once the lead is verified, most publishers will then send a solus email to the confirmed lead, instantly targeting them at their warmest. Companies with the capacity to do so can also feed these leads directly through to their call centres, vastly increasing conversion rates for products with a high order value or long-term commitment.

Through the development of tracking technologies, the value of leads can also be made highly accountable – in a world where ROI is pushed increasingly to the fore, this is invaluable. To give an automotive example, an individual lead’s journey can be tracked from its inception through to a test drive, and then through to final sale. A cruise brochure sent as PDF can be tracked back to the booking of the actual cruise. What this allows is for the advertiser to see the actual ROI of the leads that are being generated, based upon the price of the lead itself, any additional efforts needed to complete the process through to final sale, and the value of the sale.

As an affirmation of the work that has been carried out by publishers to rebuild the reputation of lead generation, these changes have been reiterated by guiding voices such as the IAB, who in November 2008 launched a lead generation taskforce to educate advertisers on the benefits of the channel. The recent result of this is a series of white papers aiming at illustrating its benefits to the very marketers who have been questioning its value until so recently.

Despite all of this, those involved in lead generation cannot afford to become complacent – even now, just by Googling the term ‘lead generation’ you are greeted with a sea of companies offering their services, not all of whom seem to be of a sufficient quality to aid in the channel’s renaissance. By adhering to the core values that have seen lead generation move from a misconceived specialism to a regular presence on media plans, we can continue the move from ‘The Good, The Bad And The Ugly’ and move towards another Spaghetti Western, where we can all clutch ‘A Fistfull Of Dollars’.

Great Blog Posts… From Seth Godin! July 1, 2009

Posted by journojack in Blogs, News, Online marketing.
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Image representing Seth Godin as depicted in C...
Image byhttp://www.prestonlee.com/archives/67

via CrunchBase

I have been looking at Seth Godin’s blog entries from when I first discovered him. He is a very interesting character, and from a marketing perspective he has been pretty accurate with his projections on the world of online media and entrepreneurship.

Enjoy some of these posts that I have pulled out:

Sooner or later?

Three new jobs

The 90 / 10 rule of marketing (and everything else)

Be careful of who you work for

Leadership is the strongest marketing strategy

Good guys finish…

How to send a personal email

All the best,

Jack

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John Lewis stops using voucher codes June 30, 2009

Posted by journojack in Affiliate Marketing, Online marketing, Voucher Codes.
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According to the Affiliates4u Forum John Lewis have stopped using voucher codes affiliates. This is a blow to the affiliate community as the John Lewis affiliate program is one of the largest and best converting. Last year they decided to exclude affiliates that offered cashback from the program in order to uphold their tradition of treating all customers equally.

Both voucher code sites and cashback sites can provide up to 50% plus of sales volume for many online retailers’ affiliate program. Although some affiliates will be hit by this news it creates an opportunity for them to make up the commission they would have got from John Lewis with other retailers.

Affiliate and online marketing consultant Peter Anderson did a study of voucher code sites and found there to be well over 100. This growth is down to consumer demand and the fact that in times of financial pressure people have been using the internet as a place where they can find bargains. in many cases this has been at the expense of the High Street.

Robin Goad of Hitwise showed the increased use of these sites in a Hitwise blog in December last last year.

“A whole online sector has emerged to feed British consumers’ hunger for discount vouchers for everything from supermarket shopping and pizzas to discounts at high end department stores. One in every 200 visits to an online retail website now comes from voucher sites such as Hot UK Deals or My Voucher Codes, while ‘consumer revenge’ website MoneySavingExpert has become the first port of call for many consumers before heading out to the high street or shopping centre.

(Between 2007 and 2008) UK Internet searches for discount vouchers have increased by 133 per cent over the last 12 months, while visits to voucher websites have gone up by 45 per cent.”

This growth in the voucher code sector has also lead to some of the industries leading figure evangalising on television, for example Duncan Jennings of eConversionss, owner of vouchercodes.co.uk was on the BBC’s Working Lunch recently.

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Growth and future of Smartphones in the UK June 10, 2009

Posted by Jonathan in Mobile, News, Online marketing.
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smartphones_front

The mobile phone industry in the UK has always been a world leading market because of our national obsession with new gadgets and our disposable income which we have available to spend on technology. It`s for this reason that there are more active mobiles in the UK than there are people to use them, and with technology progressing so fast soon mobile phones will be replacing more and more of our everyday gadgets.

We are also in the middle of a smart phone boom that isn`t showing any signs of slowing down, quite the contrary is in fact true.

Some experts expect that the number of smartphone owners will grow 15% every quarter throughout 2009 whilst the more optimistic are predicting a 30% growth spurt. This is coming about because users are realising the ultimate convenience that smartphones offer, whether it`s the inclusion of cameras that match or beat stand alone digital alternatives or the super fast mobile internet that 3G and HSDPA connections are offering.

People are more aware that a smartphone with internet and email will allow them far more freedom than before, and they`re now replacing PDAs and other mobile devices thanks to their wide range of applications.

Top Smartphones of the Moment

  1. Apple iPhone – The Apple iPhone 3G was released a little under a year ago but Apple have just announced the up coming iPhone 3G S. this latest model will improve on some of the areas in which the iPhone 3G is currently lacking, including a 3 mega pixel camera that can record video as well as a wealth of new software including on board video editing programs. This will all come on top of what is already arguably the best smartphone around with its large 3.5″ touch sensitive screen, 8 or 16GB of built in memory, unrivalled application choice thanks to the App Store and GPS sat nav to top it all off.
  2. Samsung Tocco Ultra – Though this may not be top of its class in terms of connectivity what with lacking Wi-Fi and a 3.5mm headphone jack, the Tocco Ultra certainly wins the smartphone beauty contest. At just a sliver over 1cm thick and with a touch screen as well as a slide away alphanumeric keypad this is a serious phone with looks to die for. It`s also got an 8 mega pixel camera which trounces Apple`s seminal phone.
  3. T-Mobile G1 – The first smartphone to take advantage of Google`s Android operating platform, what the G1 lacks in styling it more than makes up for in functionality. As well as the huge touch screen it`s got a full QWERTY keyboard housed beneath for those who like their buttons to be physical, and of course the web browsing software is second to none.
  4. LG Arena- This is the first true smartphone ever produced by LG and to the casual observer it looks a lot like the iPhone even down to the design of the on screen icons. However, it trumps the iPhone in terms of functionality, including an FM radio and a wealth of multimedia options. This does mean that the battery life can be pretty poor if you use some of the more intensive programs and features, but as an iPhone alternative it`s a worthy option.

The smartphone market is going to continue to grow over the coming years with its peak supposedly arriving in 2012.

With the Apple iPhone getting an update soon and with most mobile phones becoming generally smarter the average consumer will have access to more and more mobile greatness and the array of essential gadgets will be shrunk into a pocket sized hero.

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Mobile Platform development May 1, 2009

Posted by journojack in Advertising, Mobile, New revenue schemes, Online marketing, Uncategorized.
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netbiscuits_logo

Introduction

Our business media blog has been running a series called “Making Content Pay”. As part of this they recently had a look at who the innovators were in the mobile space. In this quest they stumbled upon a very dynamic business that has its roots in Germany that is reaching out across the world helping publishers and ecommerce businesses monetise their mobile traffic.

Netbiscuits, based in Kaiserslautern have been in mobile services since 2000. Since 2003 they have been managing major international customers. In 2006 they decided to integrate their highly specialized mobile Internet technology into one platform and make it accessible on the web, as they saw a potentially very big global market.

Mobile market

The 3G Mobile market can be split into three main segments:

Over the last few years the development of new devices like the iPhone and latest models to come out of Blackberry have driven high expectations about the mobile market. As we have documented the way that we consume information has changed and will continue to do so. This has had a disruptive impact on the traditional businesses models of media like newspapers and magazines meaning that new sources of revenue are crucial. 3G mobile services have enabled people to get information direct to their device rather than through a newspaper or magazine creating a whole new arena of opportunity.

Mobile versus PC

Netbiscuits have many high profile clients including Yahoo!, Bild, Wall Street Online, eBay, Sixt, RTL and Konami. Before implementing a Netbiscuits-based solution they all suffered technical translation issues. When a website that was built to be consumed on the PC is accessed via a mobile device then these technical translation issues do impact the user experience and the ROI that any media owner gets from the mobile traffic.

Netbiscuits have been able to develop a software platform that helps businesses create mobile websites that can maximise their mobile traffic. The platform enables media owners to produce mobile portals that run on any mobile phone on the market. The Netbiscuits software platform provides a proprietary mobile handset database, automatic rich media conversion and on the fly rendering, making the mobile portals delivered are highly specialised per device solving the technical translation issues discussed earlier.

Monetising mobile

The Netbiscuits platform is very flexible and can improve the ROI of mobile traffic in many ways. With eBay Netbiscuits have offered users a platform where they can search products and manage or update their bids via their mobile device.  The eBay mobile team decided against giving users the ability to set up or change any of the details of their accounts. This was decided after analysing the consumer journey of several different mobile platforms and has been vindicated with significant growth of the eBay mobile platform helping to drive sales overall growth.

We are not able to quote any direct information from eBay but Lars Hartkopf Head of Marketing for Netbiscuits says “with the right installation media owners can see a traffic uplift of between 15% and 20%.”

As well as clients with ecommerce platforms publishers have made great use of Netbiscuits. Some use it purely to give them a mobile presence and to be able to monetise traffic through advertising. One aspect of the Netbiscuits’ technology allows rich media files to play and podcasts to downloaded to any mobile device creating very unique advertising propositions to be sold to the market. If we think about this in terms of two of the largest online publishers timesonline.co.uk and guardian.co.uk who from my experience do not support video on their mobile sites, this creates a huge opportunity for publishers here in the UK. (These were accessed using a Blackberry Curve 8310 and Blackberry Bold 9000)

The most interesting way that a publisher has used Netbiscuits’ technology is traditional German newspaper publisher Bild. They recognised that publishers need to create new forms of revenue and decided to use their mobile portal as a central part of this. As part of their mobile strategy they began selling SIM cards, as a virtual mobile network operator. With this SIM card surfing the Bild mobile website was free of charge. This boosted the traffic on Bild Mobile, generated additional ad revenue, opened up new opportunities for business development and cooperation, and made Bild Mobile one of the best performing mobile websites in Germany.

When we were speaking to Netbiscuits about this we could not believe our luck to find such an innovative way of using the mobile market to create new publisher income streams. This is exactly what we want to champion here at businessmedia.co.uk and consumermedia.co.uk. Parallel to this we are firm believers in the Netbiscuits product if it can allow our UK publisher community to offer a solution to diminishing revenues from traditional media business models.

Do you want to use Netbiscuits for your own publishing or ecommerce platform? Consumermedia.co.uk can help!

If you would like any further information on Netbiscuits and would like to discuss potential strategies, let us know here at consumermedia.co.uk and we can help make things happen for you with the Netbiscuits team. Send an email to consumermedia@cutmedia.com

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