Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Creating Interest or Influence - Digital Channels Pull Ahead

An Experian Marketing Services report this year shows that 89% of U.S. adults now use a mobile phone during the course of a week compared to 97% who watch television.  The gap is only two percentage points (96% to 98%) for individuals in households making $100,000 or more.

The report is quick to point out that Americans spend three times longer watching television.  But parity is obviously in sight, and when weighted for fragmentation, mobile may, in fact, already be in the lead.

Globally, across marketing channels, nearly half of marketers no longer use television.  Only 1-in-10 see television as an “influencer” to generate interest and only 5% see it as a “closer.”

They didn’t even bother to measure outdoor billboards which now influence less than a fifth of one percent to purchase, while generating a 7-to-1 adverse reaction.2014 Digital Marketing

Email marketing, unpaid social media, online display advertising, print advertising, direct mail, mobile app, search and radio, in that order, all are considered to have more influence than television.

By far, websites are now viewed to be the best bet for influencing and closing sales.  They have all but closed the gap with advertising as a means of creating awareness, and coupled with search marketing they stand alone as the best way to create awareness.

But any marketer today must be cognizant of not only how we use our time but also for what is collected and detailed in a report entitled, The American Time Use SurveyA visualized report of some of the basic activities is shown by age group on the website Datawovn.

A new report by Digitalsmiths, a Tivo company, illustrates the dilemma of using television.  It shows how many used streaming services and/or pay-per-view but also how much time is spent surfing, how few people know what they are going to watch when they first sit down to watch and how few channels they use regularly.

It is also important to know when people are on the Internet, broken down by device or when smartphone users check email during the day.

Compare these charts back to the one linked above showing when they watch television or listen to the radio and it becomes clear how mobile offers more accessibility and is better across all measures.

Mobile also requires new metrics.  It isn’t just about eyeballs but engagement.  Adobe has provided an excellent primer on those metrics in its periodic Social Intelligence Report.

In fact, Adobe has transformed itself into one of the most savvy content marketers when it comes to useful webinars, reports and white papers for marketers.

These are challenging times for marketers.  Many have been left behind, using obsolete channels because they are too lazy or can’t keep up, while others seem overwhelmed by the pace of change.

The paradigm has shifted.  Hopefully these links are useful.

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