Email Still Getting It Done
Will telemarketers to ever adapt to the new landscape? Who are biggest influencers on Facebook?

A new report from Epsilon and the Direct Marketing Association’s Email Experience Council shows a steady increase in open rates over both Q4 2011 and Q1 2011 as overall volume declined. Highlights compiled from 7.1 billion emails from January through March 2012 show that:

• Open rates increased 12.6 percent year over year, with an overall open rate of 26.2 percent
• Click rates decreased 0.5 percentage points (8.3% overall) from last quarter to 4.7 percent. Click rates also decreased from Q1 2011 (5.2%), but continue to remain established over the last two years
• Open rates for triggered messages were 75 percent higher than for "business as usual" (BAU) in Q1
• 2012Triggered messages continued to perform well with 119 percent higher click rates than BAU

In a statement, Judy Loschen, Vice President of Digital Analytics at Epsilon, said “open rates continue to increase as click rates decrease... partially a result of consumers' tendency to open emails on their mobile devices... then abandon without clicking because the content is not optimized... or the mobile experience is lacking.” 

Telemarketers May Have to Pay for Privilege of Bugging You

James Rule’s thought-provoking op-ed piece in last Thursday’s NY Times got us thinking about the future of telemarketing. As we gear up for highly anticipated November elections, automated “robocalls” will be invading our homes and businesses like never before. Not only will unwanted calls increasingly irk consumers and small business owners, but will continue to give all marketers a bad reputation. Rule, a sociologist and a scholar at the Center for the Study of Law and Society at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, argues that all telephone service providers should be required to offer every subscriber the option of accepting only “bonded” calls. To complete a call to a subscriber electing this option, the caller would have to show willingness and ability to compensate the recipient — should the latter designate the call a nuisance. Before calls to these numbers could be completed, a message would state the amount of the potential charge. A few seconds after the connection is established, the recipient would have the option of terminating the call and charging the caller by pressing a keypad button.” The technology already exists. A “simple, low-tech regulatory change could shift the advantage decisively back in the direction of privacy,” rule explains.

Facebook Study: Women influence men more than other women

A new study of Facebook users suggests that men are major influencers, while younger users and married people are the least susceptible to suggestion. The researchers sought to figure out who influences whom by tracking 1.3 million Facebook users. Specifically, they followed 7,730 users who tried out an application that allowed them to rate movies and actors, among other Hollywood-related subjects. Whenever a user rated something, Facebook randomly sent messages to that user's Facebook friends disclosing the rating and including information about the application.

The researchers were able to track who had the most success when it came to convincing others to try the application and who was most likely to be convinced. However, not many people seemed interested in the application: The notifications went out to almost 42,000 Facebook friends, but only 976 actually tried it out.

Among the findings: Women have more influence on men than other women, and people 30 and older are more influential than younger people.

Study lead author, Sinan Aral, assistant professor of information, operations and management science at New York University, said in a statement that, "These types of targeted advertising will be based on whether you're a likely candidate to be influential considering the type of product. The idea is to make sure that people get the messages that they are most interested in and less spammy interactions."

What could advertisers of computer applications do with information from this kind of study?

"You'll want to use estimates from our methods to find people who are more influential, who have friends who are susceptible, and have a low spontaneous likelihood of adopting the program on their own," Aral said. That way, advertisers won't waste money trying to reach influential people who don't need coaxing to try a product.

The study was published online June 21 in the journal Science. The American Psychological Association has more on social networking.

Conclusion

As we’ve said time and time again, every type of legitimate marketing deserves a seat at the table—there’s no one size fits all solution and the cheapest approach usually comes back to bit you in the rear-end over the long haul. Whether you’re in B2B or B2C, those with the smarter marketing approach will always win out over those with the larger marketing budgets. Your customers, clients and advocates will thank you again and again for taking the time to respect their time.

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TAGS: Epsilon, Direct Marketing Association’s Email Experience Council, Facebook Influencers, Email marketers, James Rule, Sinan Aral New York University, University of California Berkley, Telemarketing, Do Not Call Registry, robo calls

Email Increasingly Viewed on Mobile Device, Not PC Internet advertising sets Q1 record

“Traditional ideas about what is opinion and what is news, what is advertising and what is editorial, is evaporating each day,” quipped New York Times media columnist, David Carr earlier this week. But, we can assure you if it’s advertising, and it’s digital, it just keeps growing.

Internet Advertising Revenues Set First Quarter Record 

Internet advertising revenues for the first quarter of 2012 set a new record for the reporting period at $8.4 billion, according to the latest IAB Internet Advertising Report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC U.S. It is the highest first-quarter revenue ever measured by the IAB and PwC and a $1.1 billion–or 15 percent increase–over the $7.3 billion figure reported in the first quarter 2011. The growth comes on the heels of 22 percent growth in 2011according to IAB's Annual Internet Advertising Revenue Report.

Mobile Email Viewing Taking Over

Here’s another milestone for you. By the end of this month, more people will be reading their email on mobile devices than on personal computers, according email marketing company Return Path. Mobile email views have increased over 82 percent in the past 12 months and Apple iPads and iPhones now account for 85 percent of mobile email that’s opened. Guess we don’t have to tell you which platform to optimize for.

Tablets Gain Mobile Video Viewers

Meanwhile, a new comScore study of the U.S. tablet market found that the devices have reached a critical mass in the U.S. with 1 in every 4 smartphone owners now using tablets. Smartphone owners are also three-times more likely to watch video on their devices compared to smartphone users, with 1 in every 10 tablet users viewing video content almost daily on their devices.

In April 2012, one in six (16.5%) mobile phone subscribers used a tablet, representing an 11.8 percent increase in the past year. Growth in market penetration was even more apparent among the smartphone population with nearly 1 in 4 using a tablet device in April, up nearly 14 percent in the past year. A lower 10.4 percent of feature phone owners use a tablet, suggesting that smartphone ownership is highly predictive of tablet adoption in the current market.

Internet Video to Surge by 2016

Internet video will play a major role in the quadrupling of the Internet over the next four years. That traffic growth from 2011 to 2016, according to Cisco’s latest report, will be driven by a proliferation in devices. Cisco projects that by 2016 the number of network connections will reach nearly 19 billion -- up from 10 billion last year, due to the growth in tablets, mobile phones and other smart devices. Video will drive the growth. Cisco said to expect about 1.2 million video minutes to travel the Internet every second by 2016. “Globally, there are expected to be 1.5 billion Internet video users by 2016, up from 792 million Internet video users in 2011,” Cisco said. 

Last year, computers accounted for 94 percent of Web traffic, and that share should drop to 81 percent by 2016 as more traffic rides on devices like tablets and smartphones. That figure underscores how quickly handheld devices are becoming the gateway to the Web for many consumers.

Macro view (with a Twist)

A few signs of optimism on the economic front for you. Single family home starts rose 3.2 percent in May and according to the U.S. Commerce Department, builders requested more permits for homes and apartments last month than they have in three and a half years.

U.S. Federal Reserve officials extended through the end of the year a program meant to drive down long-term interest rates and signaled that they were "prepared to take further action" if needed amid heightened worry about the economy's performance. By continuing the program, known as "Operation Twist," the Fed will buy $267 billion in long-term Treasury bonds and notes while it sells short-term Treasurys. The Fed said it still had big concerns about the economy as  the growth in employment "has slowed in recent months, and the unemployment rate remains elevated," with household spending rising at a “somewhat slower pace than earlier in the year."

Conclusion

We’re in a slow growth mode, with more emphasis on “growth” than on “slow.” For the short-term, technological advances have allowed companies to get by with fewer people than before, but those short-term productivity gains (including metrics such as revenue-per-employee) will begin to fade as human fatigue and disenchantment with “The Man” will eventually take over.

Pick your spots carefully when marketing to B2B prospects, but you do have to spend in order to stay in the game. Make sure mobile and video are an essential part of your marketing mix.

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TAGS: David Carr, Cisco, IAB Internet Advertising Report, mobile view of email, smartphones, tablets, online advertising growth, Operation Twist, comScore

Time for Facebook, LinkedIn (And Users) to Grow Up
Publicly traded social networks have a responsibility to protect our privacy; and we have a responsibility to be judicious about what we share about ourselves for public consumption

In case you missed it last week, hackers waltzed through LinkedIn’s lax security system and stole more than 6 million user passwords which had been only lightly encrypted. Lastfm.com (the CBS music site) and eHarmony the dating site were also hacked recently. Facebook and Google aren’t exactly Fort Knox either, considering how much they know about you.

On the surface, a breach of LinkedIn doesn’t seem so serious since the platform is mainly used for professional networking and posting resumes and other career credentials. But hackers know most users tend to use the same (or similar passwords) on their brokerage accounts, online bank accounts and company logins. That should send a few shudders through I.T. departments across the country.

Companies with massive amounts of valued customer continue to gamble on their own security. Why? It costs money and doesn’t translate directly to the bottom line as you can’t sell ads against it.

Forget Facebook, Twitter for contacting customers

Security issues aside, Email is still customers’ preferred channel for permission-based promotional message according to ExactTarget’s new 2012 Channnel Preferences Survey. Nearly four out of five (77%) of customers preferred to be reached by email, easily outdistancing direct mail (9%), text messaging (5%), Facebook (4%), telephone (2%) or Twitter and mobile app (1% each).

Meanwhile, new research from The Sales Benchmarking Index found that poorly executed lead generation programs are the main reason they fail to grow and retain good sales staff. Low quality leads were shown to cause a direct increase in employee and customer turnover, work-related burnout, rejections, complaints and the time it takes a new sales rep to hit their quota. Not surprisingly, researchers recommended that companies allocate a large source of the budget to pursuing sources of high quality leads.

We couldn’t agree more—provided that you put a real lead gen plan in place and don’t just throw money at the problem.

Macro view

Stocks advanced earlier this week thanks to speculation that the Fed will act to juice the economy and job market and that the European Central Bank will back a plan to guarantee bank deposits. We’re also encouraged by yesterday’s government report that said U.S. consumer prices fell in May for the first time in two years as plunging gasoline costs offset increasing rents and more expensive medical care. U.S. consumer prices fell in May for the first time in two years as plunging gasoline costs offset increasing rents and more expensive medical care. Experts say modest inflation gives the Federal Reserve room to act further to help prop up the sagging recovery, if necessary.

Conclusion

If you’re going to take advantage of the powerful free platforms on the social web—whether for personal or business use—you need to consider the extent of what you share with the world or how you use these platforms to interact with customers. By and large, research says they don’t like it. Consider that, and a weak sales lead generation program, when you’re wondering why customers aren’t renewing or calling you back.

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TAGS: ExactTarget, Sales Benchmarking Index, Sales leads, Facebook over-rated, Twitter over-rated

Online Video Accounts for Half of All Internet Traffic Tablets preferred over smartphones for viewing. Plus, expert shares insights on global financial market woes

 

If you think web-based video is everywhere, you’re not alone. Experts say online video accounts for more than half of all Internet traffic today and nearly 800 million people consumed watched at least one Web videos last year. That rate of adoption will likely double in the next 12 months according to networking services firm, Cisco, Inc.

According to Cisco, Web connected devices such as tablets, phones, game consoles, and TV sets, etc. are driving the surge in video consumption. Cisco claims that by 2016, HD streams to TV sets will grow six-fold, accounting for 6 percent of all worldwide consumer Web traffic.

However, this is chump change compared to mobile video consumption on tablets and phones. Cisco says mobile video traffic will grow 18-fold between 2011-2016, while the number of worldwide mobile users will reach 1.6 billion – a projected six-fold increase over 2011.

The Cisco report also claims that close to one-third of all Web traffic will come from devices other than the PC by 2016.

Tablet owners watching a lot more video than smart phone

Meanwhile, new findings from Rhythm New Media suggest that people prefer tablets to smartphones for watching online video. Depending on the mobile app, researchers say users watched from 50 percent to 175 percent more videos on tablets than they did on smartphones in Q1. However, because smartphones are more ubiquitous than tablets, they still account for the vast majority of time spent watching mobile video—79 percent versus 21 percent for tablets on premium properties.

Macro view

OUR TAKE: Domestically, manufacturing activity picked up a little bit according to the Institute of Supply Management, despite disappointing data on the employment and housing fronts. The equity markets are giving back most of the gains they accrued over the first five months of the year, but inflation and interest rates are still at historic lows. We think it’s still time to be cautiously optimistic about your own investments in advertising, hiring and infrastructure. Just pick your spots carefully.

Even those of you in small to midsize enterprises are really operating in a global economy however. For a global perspective, it’s too complicated for us, so we turned to our friend Paul Brian Gibson, of Norwalk, Conn-based Harborview Capital Management, LLC.
 

While the media has been filled with European headlines the last two months they have ignored the very poor data from China, Gibson told us Friday. “The reason oil has dropped 20 percent over the last few weeks is not Europe, it’s China, as the marginal buyer of the world’s commodities. Today’s official manufacturing PMI from China underscores the larger problems China faces--large decline in real estate prices, big drops in money supply, stagnating loan growth, declining rail activity and electricity usage. Chinese officials are wary of a major 2008 style stimulus that created the current bubbles in real estate and commodity prices.  The bubbles are not just in China, but in the commodity producing nations like Australia, Canada and Brazil.” 

Gibson said Europe has severe problems, but without crisis there will not be real reform. “Prepare for more downside in the risk markets, with the commensurate bounces in periods of severely oversold conditions until that real reform occurs, with support at that point, and only then, from the ECB and other central banks.”

Conclusion
Whether you’re talking about traditional media, new media, social media or the financial markets, you and your customers are connected globally for better or worse.  It’s never been easier to stay connected—but it’s never been harder to insulate yourself.

Winners in the global economy are not only the ones who are faster and more adaptable, but the ones who can see through a 360-degree lens (regardless of where that lens is manufactured).

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TAGS: ECB, European Central Bank, Paul Brian Gibson, Harborview Capital Management, Cisco, Rhythm New Media

Tablets Continue to Pull Business Prospects Away from Their Laptops
Learning to embrace the dance of the unfinished


According to IDG Research, one in eight (12%) iPad users already say their device has completely replaced their traditional laptop, while another 54 percent said tablets have partially replaced their laptops. What’s more, nearly half (44%) of marketers believe tablets will have a high or very high impact on laptop use in 2012.

The opinions of marketers on the future of laptops are divided though, says the report. The majority sit somewhere in the middle, with 37 percent suggesting it will have a high impact and 37 percent indicating it will have some impact.

IDG’s analysis concludes that tablets are widely used, and four out of five (79%) iPad owning professionals always use them on the move, is all the evidence marketers should need to target this medium.

Getting comfortable with things being unfinished

Blogger and futurist Seth Godin, had a great post recently about the never-ending state of our work lives. “There's always one more tweet to make, post to write, words with friends move to complete,” he explained. “There's one more bit of email, one more lens you can construct, one more comment you can respond to. If you want to, you can be never finished."


For the marketer, the freelancer and the entrepreneur, Godin observed, it’s not like how we were brought up--trained to finish our homework, our food, our errands and our chores. You’re never really done and you have to embrace that.

Conclusion

We may not have time to smell the roses anymore, but at least take time to notice them. It’ll be Labor Day before you know it. Don’t kick yourself again wondering where the summer has gone.
As Godin said: “Today, we're never finished, and that's okay. It's a dance, not an endless grind.”



Conclusion

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TAGS: Seth Godin, IDG research, tablets, iPad, replacing laptops, B2B marketing

Facebook Facing the Music?
Online video continues surge

   Now that the most public of companies is a public company, it looks like it’ll have to grow up a little. Shares of the newest kid on the Nasdaq block skidded again on their second day of trading. FB (Nasdaq) shares are now about 11 percent lower than the company’s initial offer price. Regulators and some investors who bought into the social network's public offering are now in the red (and seeing red) while raising questions about whether the company and its lead banker, Morgan Stanley, botched the deal. There were also some strangely-timed privacy suits against the company last week on top of GM’s decision to pull its entire $10 million ad schedule off the site two days before the IPO. 

It wasn't clear what role if any Morgan Stanley was playing in the stock's trading on Monday.
Disclosure: we’re neither long, nor short Facebook and don’t intend to be anytime soon.

Taking the long view

Regardless of whether FB (NASDAQ) succeeds as a public company, social media will be here to stay in one form or another. Social media’s probably not going to dominate all other forms of media, communication and human interaction—but it has earned a seat at the table. B2B marketers should make sure social plays some sort of part in your overall marketing mix. Let’s skip the hype and get back to business.

Online video growth continues surge

Internet users (and advertisers) can’t seem to get enough of online video. The amount of time spent watching online video grew about 46 percent in April 2012 compared to April 2011 according to comScore’s just-released April 2012 online video viewership figures. While comScore’s data indicates that the number of unique viewers rose only 5, viewers are watching a lot more video. Internet users watched about 21.8 hours last month -- up from 15 hours the year before, representing a 46 percent increase.

Meanwhile, the number of video ads viewed online rose to 9.5 billion for April, up from 3.8 billion the year before -- an increase of more than 2.5 times. Plus, the 9.5 billion ads is 14 percent higher than the 8.3 billion ads delivered just one month ago in March.

Our take: Analysts say most of the video viewership increase is coming from YouTube, but we think B2B markets should look closer at using dedicated video playlist tools that give your more control—Brightcove, Vimeo, etc.—with YouTube simply as your fill-in-the-gaps air coverage.

Macro view

Home construction rose to nearly a three-year high in April, the government reported last week and factory output rose in three of this year’s first four months. The two reports suggest growth in Q2 is off to a good start, helped by falling gasoline prices and solid hiring gains.

An AP report said manufacturing has become one of the strongest areas of the American economy since the recession ended nearly three years ago. Factory output is now 18.3 percent higher than its low hit in June 2009, the month the recession ended. It is only 6.1 percent below its prerecession peak.

Conclusion

Let’s stay focused on the fundamentals not FB’s daily gyrations. Things are getting better whether you meet your customers and clients face-to-face or Facebook style. Smart, relevant, targeted marketing will always win out in the long run.

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TAGS: Housing construction, industrial output, Facebook IPO, Morgan Stanley, comScore, Nasdaq

Why B2B Marketers Care About TV Upfront Week

LinkedIn preferred by the financial elite (see below)

Broadcast television—emphasis on “broad”—still has merit for mass consumer advertisers pushing cars, consumer staples, travel and movies. There will still be plenty of buzz this week when the advertising “up front” season kicks off. But, the live ratings for networks programs have declined for 14 straight quarters, according to media buying firm, Horizon Media. Meanwhile, Horizon says online viewing is up more than 46 percent year-over-year and Nielsen estimates there will be 350 million Web-enabled TV devices in use worldwide by 2015.

NY Times media pundit, David Carr quipped today, “it isn’t just the early adopters that legacy television has to be concerned about: there is a whole cohort of consumers on the way who are non-adopters of TV as we have historically conceived it.”

Our take: It’s not only that “appointment TV” continues to drop precipitously (i.e. American Idol ratings off 30 percent), but viewers want to consume their favorite content when they’re good and ready to do so. That same DVR mindset is affecting how they engage with your email newsletters, alerts, podcasts, videos and white papers.

Don’t worry about your clicks, opens, views and Likes the first 12 to 24 hours of a digital campaign. In the same way that your target buyers TiVo their favorite shows for later viewing, they’re archiving their “must-read/must view” work-related content and plowing through it over the weekend or late at night when they’re more relaxed and less distracted. We see this trend again and again with our clients.

Next week we’ll talk about using the metrics that matters—not the McMetrics that are easiest to collect.


LinkedIn preferred by the financial elite

According to the latest quarterly study by Janrain Engage, people use Facebook to interact with friends and family, Twitter to follow influencers and share opinions, LinkedIn for their professional network, and Gmail, Yahoo! or Hotmail to communicate directly with contacts.  Combined, these networks boast over 1.5 billion accounts. 

However, it’s a little different for financial advisors and high net worth investors (HNWI) of more than $100,000 in investable assets. A new commissioned by LinkedIn released late last week at the Financial Services Summit in New York identified some important takeaways:

1.For about one third of advisors (30%), social media plays a role in marketing and researchers expect it to be used by over half over advisors in 2013. Nearly three fourths of financial advisors have used at least one social network for business in the past year. Researchers also found that many advisors are not taking advantage of the platform. About 5 million high net worth individuals (HNWIs in industry parlance) use social media to inform financial decisions, and of those who consult a financial advisor regularly, more than half (52%) would value interacting with that person via social media -- but only 4 percent do so today.

2.LinkedIn says about two-thirds of U.S. online adults with an investment account have at least one social network profile, and Forrester Research says nearly all households with more than $1 million in investable assets are now online.

3.Social media adopters are more demanding. More than half (53%) of HNWIs expect relevant and timely content, 48 percent want greater transparency of information and 45 percent value real-time interactive conversations.

4.Among advisors who have used at least one social network for business, 91 percent have used LinkedIn; 32 percent, Facebook; 28 percent, Google+; and 22 percent, Twitter.

Our Take: Great stats, but now LinkedIn starts to push it over the top. For instance, the study also found social media improves brand perception of a financial company, labeling it as "innovative." Researchers claim “Not only do investors expect finance companies to advertise on LinkedIn, but doing so improves consumer brand perception toward the financial company by 7 percent. That same financial company advertising on another social platform could result in an 11 percent net decrease in favorability,” according to LinkedIn's findings.

Conclusion

Whether you’re in mass consumer, financial services or nuts-and-bolts B2B, your target customers—not you—decide if and when they’ll spend time with your offering. That’s the world we live in. Just as “mass” is fading from the lexicon of mass media, “blast” is fading from the world of B2B.

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TAGS: LinkedIn, Forrester Researcher, Horizon Media, Janrain Engage, Financial Services Summit, Nielsen, David Carr

Turning the Corner on Housing, Video, Social, Mobile

Real numbers for real B2B marketers




Despite languid GDP growth, more solid quarterly earnings reports pushed stocks to their biggest weekly advance since mid-March. Separately, a report showed U.S. consumers in late April felt better about the economy than earlier in the month and an index that measures the number of contracts signed to purchase previously owned homes rose in March to its highest level in nearly two years, up 12.8 percent from a year ago and 4.1 percent from February, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday.

Housing rebound for real?

"We very much believe we've hit bottom," Ivy Zelman, chief executive of a Zelman Associates told the WSJ last week. Earlier this week, she raised her home-price forecast for the year, calling for a 1 percent annual gain, up from a 1 percent decline. According to the Journal, real-estate agents consider a market balanced when there is a six-month supply of homes for sale. At the height of the housing crisis, in 2008, there was an 11.1-months' supply. In March, there was a 6.3-months' supply.

Out Take: We’re far from out of the woods but the worst is clearly over. When buyers and sellers have reached a statistical stalemate—buyers aren’t caving in, but sellers aren’t raising their bids—we take that as a positive sign that we’re slowly rebounding from the bottom. Consumer confidence ultimately finds its way to the B2B sector and we’re advising a modest green light on your hiring and infrastructure upgrade plans.

Facebook “Like” not the same as engagement

Appalachian State University’s Department of Communication found that even among 18- to 29-year-olds (aka the Facebook generation), while 75 percent said they had “liked” a profit or non-profit organization on Facebook, seven out of ten (69%) said that once they “liked” the organization, they rarely or never returned to the fan page. What’s more, only 15 percent of the respondents said they visited organizations’ fan pages weekly. Most respondents (44%) spent less than 30 minutes a day on Facebook.

Researchers found 18- to 29-year-olds are not as invested in an organization as the organization may think... when they click the ‘like’ button or click ‘follow’... It’s fairly consistent in the research that Millennials like organizations that give something back to them.”

Fickle "Digital Natives" switch platforms every other minute

If you think the younger generation has perpetual ADD, you’re not alone. According to a new Time Inc. study, digital Natives switch their attention between media platforms (i.e. TVs, magazines, tablets, smartphones or channels within platforms) 27 times per hour, about every other minute!

Because Digital Natives spend more time using multiple media platforms simultaneously, researchers say their emotional engagement with content is constrained. Apparently they experience fewer highs and lows of emotional response and as a result. Digital Natives more frequently use media to regulate their mood; as soon as they grow tired or bored, they turn their attention to something new.

Our Take: One key to these findings is that Digital Immigrants appear to be intuitively linear, whereas Natives, don’t necessarily need a beginning, middle and end to stories--they will accept it in any order. Digital Natives are subconsciously switching between platforms and can pick up different pieces of a story from different mediums in any order.

Mobile ad spend to double in 2012

A new forecast from technology research firm Strategy Analytics projects mobile ad spending worldwide will grow 85 percent in 2012 from $6.3 billion to $11.6 billion. In the U.S., researchers predict mobile advertising will grow even faster, more than doubling (up 128%) to just under $4.2 billion.

Advertising is expected to grow much faster than consumer spending in mobile. Strategy Analytics projects that consumer outlays on mobile media will grow 13.4 percent from $121.8 billion to $138.2 billion globally in 2012. In the U.S., the corresponding figure will increase 15.5 percent to $33.7 billion. The majority of consumer dollars (60.2%) worldwide will go toward carrier data plans and mobile Internet services.

But the study anticipates that strong, continued demand for apps will also play a key role in driving growth. The number of apps downloaded in 2011 surged 38 percent from 23 billion to 32 billion, making apps the second-largest revenue category for both consumer and advertiser spending. Apps are expected to account for 18.9% of mobile consumer spend in 2012, rising 30.7% to $26.1 billion.

David MacQueen, Strategy Analytics’ director of wireless media strategies, explained that mobile video is either often free and ad-supported (YouTube) or bundled without extra charge into services, such as Sky Go in Europe and AT&T U-verse in the U.S. So despite a global audience of 271 million users, mobile video only generated $223 million in ad sales last year.

Strategy Analytics predicts that 125 million Americans will use their handsets to social network. But again, advertising and other types of revenue have yet to catch up with consumers. So related U.S. revenue will reach $412.7 million, or $3.48 per mobile user.

Mobile video to surpass web video

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that the mobile video ad market will surpass the online video ad market later this year. “It’s happening fast and people are not quite comprehending the speed,” said Tod Sacerdoti, CEO of ad network BrightRoll in a recent statement. “By the end of this year we are pretty confident that more than half of all digital video ads will be mobile.” In March alone, more than 40 percent of the global video exchange requests at BrightRoll were for mobile. A year ago that figure was less than 5 percent, underscoring the rapid trajectory for mobile video, especially in the last few months.

One of the benefits of mobile video ads is they are often brand safe from the get-go, and are served to us in popular apps like Angry Birds, Draw Something, and Pandora, Sacerdoti said. Thus, the growth in mobile video advertising will spread well beyond the premium big name publishers. “You have an enormous influx of supply and this is almost universally good for marketers. For publishers this may be a different group though, and publishers who have a strong business online might not be as meaningful on mobile.”

Conclusion

Your best clients and customers are increasingly less tethered to their desks and desktop computers while working. You’ll not only have to work harder to reach them on the go, but you’ll have to reach them when they’re in the right mindset to be reached. In this digital society, the work/leisure line becomes fuzzier and fuzzier. They’re working when they’re playing and they’re playing when their working. Now more than ever, you have to be smart, fast and creative to get your message through.


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TAGS: mobile, apps, video, Appalachian State, Time Inc., National Association of Realtors, Strategy Analytics, Brightroll, digital natives, digital immigrants 

Internet Advertising Passes Cable, Now No. 2 Advertising Medium

Financial services second largest online ad category. Are higher gas prices here to stay?

As the NY Times opined late last week, even President Obama can’t reverse the law of supply and demand. But, federal officials can try to ensure that market manipulation and speculation does not drive gas prices higher than is warranted by economic fundamentals.

So, how do you make that pre-election rhetoric into policy? Experts say research presented in Congressional testimony, academic papers, government and private studies shows excessive speculation, mainly by Wall Street index-fund traders, is needlessly driving up prices, with estimates ranging up to $1 a gallon in jacked-up gasoline costs. And Mr. Obama called on Congress to increase regulators’ budgets and powers to police the oil markets and to increase penalties for manipulation. But conservatives, including The Wall Street Journal said no clear evidence of speculation or who the speculators are….and if so, was is natural gas so low. See video interview of Journal assistant editorial page editor James Freeman Pic=Phantom Oil speculation

Our take: While a reasonable amount of hedging and speculation is needed to ensure free-flowing efficient markets, excessive speculation is what causes meltdowns like we saw in the banking and housing markets. In the short run, don’t expect the Administration to take drastic steps before the elections to curb speculation or to interfere with financial markets that have regained most of the ground lost since the 2008. If your business depends on raw materials, transportation, travel or energy, plan for a short period of higher costs which will impact business and consumer demand for your products and services. Also expect higher business travel costs and possible impact of attendance at your live events.
Internet advertising passes cable, now second-largest advertising medium

Internet ad spending grew 22 percent in 2011 to $31.7 billion, according to the latest data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Researchers said growth is accelerating, not decelerating, from last year’s 14.5 percent growth rate after a recession-induced slide in 2009. The IAB also said mobile advertising was the fastest-growing category in 2011, jumping nearly 150 percent to $1.6 billion in 2010. Mobile also garnered 5 percent of total online ad dollars this year versus 2.5 percent a year ago. Digital video advertising -- which the IAB includes as part of display advertising -- saw strong growth as well, rising 29 percent from $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion. Overall, display spending rose 15 percent in 2011 to $11.1 billion from $9.6 billion.

Financial services second largest online ad category

Financial services accounted for 13 percent ($4.1 billion), behind only retail (22%, $7 billion); telecom, ranked third as 12 percent ($3.9 billion), automotive, 11 percent ($2.9 billion), leisure travel, 8 percent ($2.4 billion), and computing 8 percent ($2.7 billion). IAB said the $31.7 billion in Internet advertising in 2011 exceeded the $31 billion in cable TV advertising last year, making the category second only to broadcast TV ($38.5 billion).

“Pushing past the $30 billion barrier, the interactive advertising industry confirms its central place in media," said IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg, in presenting the 2011 figures Wednesday.

Email more popular than social media
Social media may be getting all the buzz, but email is still a more popular mode of Internet communication, according to a new survey from private research firm Ipsos. Of nearly 20,000 adults polled worldwide, 85 percent of them used the Internet for email while 62 percent used it for social networking. Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos, says she expected email use to trump that of social media. “If you think about it, the Internet was first used for sending letters online. It shouldn’t be surprising that we’re using a digital version of sending a letter,” she says. “But the fact that a majority of people are using [the Internet] for social networking is a paradigm shift; there’s no equivalent in the offline world.” Aside from email and social networking, researcher said another key use of the Internet is for Voice-Over-IP. Overall, VOIP is used by 14 percent of people across the globe and trends high in Russia (36%), Turkey (32%) and India (25%). VOIP use is lowest in Brazil (4%), France (5%) and the U.S. (6%).

E-mail most preferred by online consumers
Email is by far the most popular channel among US online consumers for receiving permission-based promotional messages, according to ExactTarget new survey results released last week. 77 percent of respondents chose email, with direct mail (letter, catalogs, postcards, etc. - 9%), text messaging (SMS) on a cell phone (5%), Facebook (4%), and phone (2%) trailing distantly. Email’s is most popular among 35-44-year-olds and 55-64-year-olds (both at 81%), and least popular among 15-17-year-olds (66%).

You owe it to yourself, your clients and your organization to look into every new marketing channel that emerges on the horizon. But please test and evaluate first before rolling out. You need to put your energies into what’s most effective—not necessarily what’s most buzzworthy—but remember what’s working well today may not be your go-to solution a year or even six months from now.

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Does Technology Make Us Better Connected or More Isolated?

The power of the independent workforce

If you can squeeze in the time, take a few minutes to read Ross Douthat’s Op-Ed piece in yesterday’s New York Times “The Man With the Google Glasses.” If you’re in sales, marketing or business development, you’ve got to find a way to connect with customers who are “more electronically networked, but more personally isolated, than ever before.” Can the remarkable capabilities of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms “make up for the weakening flesh-and-blood ties and the decline of traditional communal institutions?” Douthat ponders.

Our take: Don’t pass judgment on the narcissistic, always-wired generation. They might be more comfortable e-mailing and tweeting you than meeting for lunch or golf, but that’s how the next generation of decision-makers and policy-makers gets things done. The sooner you embrace their style of communication, the sooner you can start closing deals and getting the leg up on your competition. Just keep it real. By that we mean, learn the basics of social media and networking, but don’t try to pass yourself off as an expert and if there’s something that’s still baffling you, just ask. The younger generation’s a little more altruistic than their Boomer/Gen X elders. Chances are they’ll appreciate your honesty and will be willing to help you get up to speed. Nobody likes a poser, whether it’s in the real world or virtual world.

The independent contractor is here to stay

On top of the social networking generation, you also need to pay heed to the freelance, independent free-agent contractor generation. If you’re in any kind of creative, technology or other business that’s based on fresh ideas vs. policy manuals, the rise of the independent workforce won’t be receding even when the economy improves. As Alexandra Levit related in yesterday’s NY Times, “independent work is a choice,” not a sign of desperation. “Given the direction the corporate world is going, I think many workers need to prepare for the possibility of going out on their own some day.”

Here at HB, we’ve found the independent contractors aren’t interesting in kissing anyone’s ass or working their way up an imaginary ladder. They’re interested in having a high income/high quality of life with the flexibility to choose when and how they work and what work they take on. Are they selfish? Perhaps, but we’ve found most independent contractors to be highly disciplined, highly skilled and honestly interested in helping you grow your business and solve tough challenges in innovative and cost-efficient ways.

At the end of the day, that’s what we do for our clients, investors and boards. You owe it to yourself to get the best available athlete on whatever challenge you have—it doesn’t matter if you pay them 1099 or W-2.

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Do Busy Professionals Have Time for Social Media?

Most will tell you it’s a ‘must do’, but tweeting and posting is just the tip of the iceberg. If you’re not carefully planning, adjusting and measuring the right things, then you’re just adding to the noise and making yourselves look worse



Chief Marketer’s recent survey of CMOs found that friends, followers, likes, shares forwards and retweets are still the most popular social media metrics. Why? Because they’re easy to measure. But, as Internet Marketing Report (IMR) revealed in today’s print edition, these easy metrics (we call ‘em McMetrics here at HB) just tell you how wide your reach is. IMR said leads and sales are far more accurate indicators of ROI. For instance, 60 percent of CMOs surveyed said they looked toward “friends, followers and likes” as indicators to measure social media success, but only 35 percent said they monitored qualified leads from social media and only 25 percent measured sales attributed to their social media platforms.

Communicating in a microwave society

And that’s a challenge, because technology is changing so fast. We’re so busy trying to keep up with technology that we’re not really becoming more effective communicators—let alone brand builders or reputation enhancers. “Our culture moves at warp speed, no question, the weekly or even daily news cycle long since replaced by an up-to-the-second Twitter feed of Facebook update,” wrote Sports Illustrated’s Richard Hoffer last week. “We said goodbye to thoughtful consideration the day we moved over to microwave popcorn.”

Fortunately Google Analytics and others will soon enable users to track how well their social media efforts are paying off in real e-commerce dollar terms. Disclosure: Our firm has no commercial ties or partnerships with Google.

Companies that enable the e-commerce tracking feature on their free version of Google Analytics will soon be able to produce a “social value report” that shows conversions or sales that came directly from visitors to your social media site and “assisted conversions” that come within a set interval (say 30 days) of when a visitor interacted with one of your social media pages.

As Hugh Duffy, head of a practice development firm for CPAs noted on his blog last week, time is one of the biggest resource investments you have to consider when embarking on a social media strategy. Citing research from my good friend, Rick Telberg, of Bay Street Group Research Duffy noted there’s a strong correlation between high performance and technology adoption at firms.

To do it well, it will take up a great deal of your organization’s time and energy to launch it, maintain it and perfect it. But will it bring you more business? And how long do you keep trying until you know whether or not you’ll be successful at developing a meaningful and profitable online presence?

Only you and your colleagues can be the judge? But before you start throwing stuff on the wall to see what will stick, you must have a clear timeline, clear assignment of responsibilities and clearly defined success metrics that everyone can buy into. That way you’ll know when it’s time to ramp up or clean up the mess, if it’s just not working out.

Your clients and stakeholders are depending on you. They’ll respect you for trying new ways to reach them. And they’ll respect you even more for not throwing good money (and time) after bad when it becomes apparent that some of your social experiments may not be their cup of tea.

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iRony: Google heavies up on traditional advertising; iPad one hot item!

How B2B media will benefit

As we wind up Q1, jobless claims this week hit a 4 year low and the financial markets ended the first quarter up 12 percent (based on S&P 500 and Wilshire 5000). But gas prices are up again, 22 percent since December to a national average of $3.92. Rising energy prices have weighed on economic confidence and cut into household budgets. That’s a drag on media spending and will be a significant concern for the Obama administration seeking re-election.

On Friday, the Prez said there was enough oil in world markets to allow countries to reduce their Iranian imports significantly, clearing the way for Washington to impose severe new sanctions intended to slash Iran’s oil revenue and press Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. We’ll see how tough Obama stays as we get closer to the November elections with $5 per gallon gas prices, so expect more turbulence in the financial markets—and at the pump.

Google turns to traditional advertising

We got a kick out of this item in Tuesday’s Journal
that Google will spend tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars on TV, magazine and newspaper ads to promote new services, including its Google+ social network and Chrome Web browser. You’ve got to hand it to the kids from Silicon Valley. First kill traditional media, then dominate what’s left of it—and perpetuate the “don’t be evil” mantra. You can’t make this stuff up!


It’s official, new iPad runs hot and apps more fickle

Venerable Wall Street Journal tech columnist, Walter Mossberg says it’s true. c/Net and Huffington Post say it might be true. Let’s see what loyal Apple customers and support staff have to say in this thread

Business and technology media gaining momentum

On the B2B media side, we got “guidance” from PIB, min and other sources that business and technology magazine will show encouraging page gains when the first quarter ad tallies are released most likely next week. Stay tuned as these two sectors, which depends on long sales cycles and “sweaty palms” decision across multiple points of contact, may be finally poised for a rebound. Expect both sectors to benefit from the Google ad blitz and Apple reputation restoration campaigns.

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Senate Approves Bill to Aid Startups

iToldYouSo. One in 5 tech firms rejected applicants because of social media. Total ad spending stagnates in 2011; search takes a hit, display hangs on

By a 3-to-1 margin, the Senate yesterday approved the JOBS Act—Jumpstart Our Business Startups-- which will make it easier for small companies to raise money for growth. It will also minimize corporate governance and disclosure requirements that typically slow the process for companies who are creating jobs and need the approvals the most. The legislation which was approved two weeks ago in the House, would create a new category of “emerging growth” companies that could conduct IPOs for a period of 5 years, without the red tape of certain corporate governance and financial disclosure requirements that fatten the wallets of underwriters and white shoe lawyers but few other people.

OUR TAKE: Of course there will be some fraud and overzealous use of new loopholes to the new rules, but we’re now a dozen years into the new millennium. We should be able to handle “crowd-funding” of promising new companies with a minimum amount of government oversight. The democratization of the “public” equity process—the sales of small amounts of stocks to many individuals through the Internet or elsewhere—excites us almost as much as the job creation opportunities. While Wall Street, white shoe law firms and union leaders may have some of their power dis-intermediated, the more people who can take part in productive capitalism, the faster we can spread the prosperity that’s starting to emerge from the half-decade long recession. A quick look at the equity markets, jobless numbers and housing starts will show that the tipping point has finally, albeit slowly, tipped for the better.

iToldYouSo: Tech firms rejecting job applicants due to social media posts

Not sure why it took so long for this research to come out, but it turns out nearly 20 percent of technology firms have rejected job applicants because of something they stupidly included on their social media profile, according to the 2012 annual technology market survey conducted by Eurocom Worldwide and its associated agencies. Our guess is that the figure is higher in other industries and will continue to teach millenials (and HR departments) about the distinction between sharing relevant content and over-sharing irresponsible or banal content.

Ad slowdown (or pause)during economic turnaround?

According to Kantar Media Intelligence 2011 Ad Expenditures Data, most major segments of the media market, including digital, but with the exception of TV, stagnated during the last quarter of 2011 and in 2011 overall.

Total advertising expenditures increased less than one percent (0.8%) in 2011 and finished the year at $144.0 billion, according to data released today by Kantar Media Ad spending. Since reaching a post-recession peak in Q3 2010, advertising growth rates have slowed for five consecutive quarters moving almost in the opposite direction of jobs and the overall economy.

For the entire year 2011, Paid Search declined 2.8 percent and Display increased 5.5 percent, researchers said. Consumer magazines declined 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter due to deep cutbacks in auto, food and pharmaceutical advertising, but finished the year 2011 about even with 2010. B2B magazines squeezed out a tiny gain of 0.8 percent.

We know that major public companies are sitting in record hordes of cash and Jon Swallen, Kantar’s senior vice president for research said in a statement that the largest advertisers have become increasingly conservative with their budgets, which has offset “the healthy spending growth occurring among midsize advertisers.”

Remember, you’re not going to get an official government notice that the path to prosperity is ALL CLEAR. The real recession is in the rearview mirror. With the exception of some housing overhang, most of our reticence to spend, hire and invest is based on phsychological rather than real-world factors. Don’t let the pent-up demand surge pass you buy. Good luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

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How B2B Marketers Can Leverage the Talent Society

Best length for online video ads and economic conditions on upswing

While David Brooks’ insightful op-ed piece in yesterday’s NY Times was not intended for B2B marketers, he hit on a number of important trends that will undoubtedly change the way connect with your target customers, clients and evangelists.

Both individuals and workers want more space to develop their individual talents, Brooks observed and they want “more flexibility to explore their own interests and develop their own identities, lifestyles and capacities. They are more impatient with situations that they find stifling.”

Over the past half century Brooks believes we have gone from a society that protected people from their frailties to a society that allows people to maximize their talents. “Today, the fast flexible and diverse networks allow the ambitious and the gifted to surf through amazing possibilities. They are able to construct richer, more varied lives. They are able to enjoy interesting information-age workplaces,” he writes.

Bottom line: People with skills can really thrive in this tenuous, networked society, said Brooks as they can develop and nurture their individual brands. But people without those advantages would be better with our traditional command and control, corporate hierarchical structure that stifled individualism and creativity but rewarded employee loyalty.

Our Take: Smart marketers have learned that you can build long-lasting and rewarding relationships with key customers that span multiple decades and multiple job changes. Being honest, creative and delivering on what you promise is what customers remember about you—not what price you quoted them or how many lunches or golf outings you treated them to.

What is the best length for my video ads?

If you’re trying to take advantage of the surge in online video advertising, be smart and think short. That’s the advice from Poll Position whose recent survey of 1,179 adults concluded that 15 seconds is how long 54 percent of respondents say is acceptable before they get turned off. Only 12 percent of Internet users said viewing a 30-second ad prior to viewing free content was acceptable to them and only 7 percent were willing to view ads of 45 seconds or longer.

Macro view

While there’s no telling what the impact on corporate profits will be if the President gets his new corporate tax planned passed, the Dow is hovering at the 13,000 point level—an altitude not seen since May of 2008. And, the S&P 500 index is approaching the cheapest level ever compared with bonds thanks to the Fed’s zero-percent interest rates. While the Euro zone debt crisis can’t be ignored, U.S. capital markets seem reasonably confident the Greek bailout plan will eventually stick. What’s more, things seem much better at home as long as you ignore the housing market. More than 240,000 real jobs were created in January and we now have the lowest unemployment rate since early 2009. Corporate balance sheets are stuffed with cash. With interest rates likely to remain low for the near future, companies should be poised to continue hiring cautiously and investing in capital equipment and IT infrastructure which bodes well for those of you in the B2B space.

Take a break from the news once in a while. Things are better than you think. Don’t let this rare opportunity to invest, hire and connect with new customers pass you by. It may not be this cheap for years to come.

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Economy, Online Video and Mobile Continue to Roll

Key takeaways for B2B marketers

First, more good news from the macro-economic front. Initial claims for jobless benefits fell to its lowest level since April 2008 according to the Labor Department and the stock markets, particularly the Dow are near their four-year highs. More importantly to us, nearly three-fourths of S&P 500 stocks are trading above their 26-week moving average, according to Thomson Reuters data. Housing starts increased more than expected according to new data that came out today and investors seem cautiously optimistic that the Greek debt crisis in the Euro zone will slowly, but surely resolve itself without taking the rest of the world down with it.

Oh, one more thing that encouraged us. Voters aren’t likely to give our elected officials too much of the credit for improving economic conditions. A new Gallup survey released yesterday found that 86 percent of Americans DO NOT approve of the job that Congress is doing. We call that “rational” exuberance.

Online video ads perform better when socially recommended

New research from Unruly Media shows that viewers’ engage more successfully with ads if they come via recommendation rather than serendipity. Enjoyment of video advertising content increases 14 percent if the video is recommended by a trusted friend or colleague and boosts brand recall by 7 percent if recommended, rather than simply found by browsing.

Does video enjoyment really impact sales? Well, researchers say video enjoyment increases purchase intent by a whopping 97 percent and brand association by nearly 140 percent.

Viewers tolerate more video ads as content quality improves

According to video ad serving provider FreeWheel, digital video is increasingly being monetized like traditional broadcast TV as viewers accept an increased number of ads in exchange for better content. Ad loads are increasing most in long-form content -- i.e., 20 minutes or more. There are now nearly seven video ads per long-form video, more than double the ad load from early 2011.

OUR TAKE: B2B marketers take note. This trend toward high quality video engagement bodes very well for those of you contemplating video versions of your white papers.

From the Q1 through Q4 of 2011, video viewing grew 47 percent, while ad viewing grew 49 percent, said JoAnna Foyle Abel, FreeWheel's vice president of marketing in a statement. However, the ratio between the two narrowed dramatically between the third quarter and the fourth. By the fourth quarter, 75 percent of all digital video content had a video ad associated with it, while in the first quarter, just over half of the content had video ads placed in it.

“This trend shows that producers of professional digital video content are now using advertising to monetize the majority of the content they place into the market,” according to Foyle Abel.

Also, the mid-roll video ad placement showed the most dramatic growth in 2011. FreeWheel attributes this to a rise in mid-form content (5-20 minutes in length) and long-form content being made available online, more mid-roll ad pods being created within that content; and more video ads per pod being added. The Apple iPad continues to be an influential device for video viewing.

Mobile ad spending to grow 30 percent in 2012

Mobile advertising and marketing is expected to grow at 3.5 times the rate of the overall communications industry over the next five years, according to research firm PQ Media, including a 30 percent surge in 2012. Mobile marketing and advertising itself has grown eight-fold, while mobile content and access has tripled said PQ media.

Among the challenges PQ Media’s Patrick Quinn points to are device/network fragmentation, the difficulty to buy mobile inventory at scale, and still relatively low penetration on new devices like tablets. Smartphone penetration has also been slowed by high access fees.

Our Take: If that’s where the eyeballs are then that’s where the money is. And, if that’s where the money is, that’s what will finance any tech fixes need to harvest those opportunities.

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State of the Union, GOP debates, economy and B2B

Things suck less than before. Housing over-supply and jobless claims dropping. Travel industry improving. Holidays sparked double-digit surge in tablets, e-readers.

Last night’s GOP debate from Tampa was supposed to be about the private sector’s ability to create jobs that Big Government hasn’t been able to generate the past three years. Instead it came down to two rich guys competing to see who paid more taxes on money they may or may not have earned fair and square through actual “work.”

Gingrich compared himself to Reagan, calling himself "exactly the kind of bold, tough leader" that Americans want, "someone who is prepared to be controversial when necessary." Romney cited his record in running the Salt Lake City Olympics and said Gingrich "had to resign in disgrace" as House speaker after an ethics controversy, a characterization Gingrich disputed. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, when given a chance to get a word in edgewise, showed they’re smart, thoughtful and experienced. They’re probably too intelligent for the average American voter to get and not well enough funded (or well-connected enough) to stay with the leaders till the finish line. Too bad. But’s it’s nice to see common sense and modesty has made it to the Final Four.

In tonight’s State of the Union address, the Prez will undoubtedly point to great strides his administration has made since he took over the train wreck that was the U.S. economy in 2009. There’s certainly been progress, but how much can be attributed to policies put in place vs. how much has come from the natural corrections a free market economy allows. Housing and excessive private debt, the two biggest scourges of the recession, he'll likely say are finally showing signs of improving. Even cantankerous NY Times columnist, Paul Krugman, was upbeat in his NY Times column yesterday “Is Our Economy Healing?”

But you could also argue that the historical rate of home ownership in the U.S. has been about 60 percent of American households. We got near 70 percent just before the housing bubble burst and are still painfully regressing to the historical mean. Should we be fighting the law of averages or setting better home-ownership policies down the road?

In tonight’s address, we’ll surely hear talk about fixing income inequality, but we’re more concerned here about technology inequality. The Holidays sparked a huge gain in U.S. in ownership of tablets, e-readers. And, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Report released yesterday said the share of adults who owned table computers nearly doubled overnight to 19 percent from 10 percent in November. The boost in tablet ownership was especially high among college educated folks earning over $75K per year. We suspect the rate of cutting edge technology ownership and systems is also tilted in favor of large business vs. small businesses.

Our take: Whether you’re a B2B marketer, business owner or media outlet, you absolutely must take this mobile data into consideration before you get too far down the road with your 2012 strategy. If you don’t have the budget for mobile and related-platforms, find a way to make it fit.

Jobless claims down

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits for the first time plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008, the Labor Department said. But is that real progress or are companies finally realizing they can’t continue to operate indefinitely with staffs stretched too thin, disgruntled and fatigued?

Separately, the government said consumer prices were unchanged last month, the latest sign that inflation remains tame. Lower gasoline prices offset rising costs for food, medical care and housing. The Federal Reserve projects consumer price inflation will fall from about 2.8 percent in 2011 to roughly 1.7 percent this year. That’s progress, but is it enough to spike a surge in demand?

Travel industry bouncing back

The travel and tourism industry has added about 224,000 jobs since reaching its low point in December 2009 according to the US Travel Association. Meanwhile, hotel occupancy reached 59.8 percent in 2011 (projected to hit 61 percent in 2012), up from 54.6 percent in 2009, according to Smith Travel Research. And the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said full-time jobs in the airline industry finally began to improve last year after 28 consecutive months of decline. No one enjoys flying anymore. It’s a cattle call for most budget conscious consumers and a horrific time drain for most business travelers, but people still need to meet and press the flesh to close business and preserve relationships (whether of the business and familial kind).

Conclusion

Whether you’re a glass half-full or glass half-empty type of person, indicators keep showing that more of your favorite beverage is in the glass than when the current Administration took over. We don’t take sides for any political debate, so you’ll have to decide for yourself whether the private sector can keep the small engine of momentum running by itself, or will it need a continuous helping hand from the government? As we’ve said many times before, things are never as bad as they seem when times are lousy—just as they’re never as idyllic as they seem when we’re flush with cash, customers and back orders (or waiting lists) for our services.

If nothing else, now is the time to hit the gas on your marketing, hiring and expansion plans, before the tsunami of pent up demand leaves you in its wake.

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