Advertisers are warming up to online video as a means to reach targeted audiences: 56% of ad agency executives and media buyers say online video advertising is more effective or much more effective than other forms of advertising, and 83% say they are getting more value for their online video ... more

Homepage ads on Facebook that have social media context—that is, they include the names of users' friends who are already fans of the brand—are 4.0 times more likely than those that don't to increase purchase intent of a product or brand, twice as likely to increase awareness, and 1.6 times ... more

Just because something is currently labeled a best-practice doesn't mean it's written in stone, says DJ Waldow in an article at MarketingProfs. "[W]e can find and spit back best-practices for most email-marketing-related questions; however, I nearly always find marketers who 'break the rules' with tremendous success," he explains. Here are a ... more

Marketers are doing a better job contributing to an organization's bottom line, but they are still more focused on managing metrics than managing performance, and most have yet to leverage insights from metrics and dashboards, according to a survey from VisionEdge Marketing in association with Marketo. more

Despite a downward spiral in revenues at virtually every traditional media company, most industry executives are optimistic about their financial prospects—and their ability to reinvent themselves in the digital age, according to a study from Booz & Company. more

In a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog, Lee Odden explains how a better understanding of search-engine optimization can help PR and communications professionals boost their results in a digital world by making it easier for various search engines to find, index and rank their content. "If content can ... more

Dipping your brand into unfamiliar territory (like marketing a mobile app to the masses) isn't just a matter of learning new terrain, it's a matter of rethinking what you think you know. A good place to start? Other companies' success stories. Enter Vogue Stylist ("Your closet. Styled by Vogue."), an iPhone app ... more

Though ad spending has softened in many sectors, the direct response ad—or infomercial—has registered 18% growth in total ad units since 2007 and now comprises 14% of all US TV advertising, according to a study from Nielsen. more

More than four in five Americans (86%) say the volume (sound) of TV commercials seems louder than that of TV shows, and among those consumers 93% say they are bothered by the volume difference, according to a survey from Adweek Media/Harris Poll. more

Some 28.1 billion videos were delivered to US Internet users in February 2010, down 13.2% from 32.4 billion in January, and 174.2 million people watched online videos in during the month, slightly more than the previous month's 173.4 million, according to comScore data. more

Mobile behavior varies dramatically across demographics: 70% of consumers age 18-29 say they send text messages using their mobile phone, compared with 49% of those age 40-49 and 11% of those age 65+, according to a Merkle Inc. study of mobile adoption and use. more

The Yellow Pages are a valuable source of qualified leads: Most print and Internet Yellow Pages consumers either make or intend to make purchases after consulting those sources, according to a study by the Yellow Pages Association. more

A tentative global economic recovery is beginning to fuel ad markets across the world: Ad expenditure is already accelerating in bullish developing markets, while the downturn is coming to an end more quickly than expected in the developed world, according to projections by ZenithOptimedia. more

Among a variety of holiday specials and shopping tactics, store coupons and free-shipping offers were the two incentives most used by shoppers during the fourth-quarter 2009 holiday-shopping season, according to a survey from MARC Research. more

Ten leading location-based digital video networks delivered a total of 237 million video ads per month to consumers age 18+ during the last four months of 2009, according to The Nielsen Company's inaugural Fourth Screen Network Audience Report. more

Still wondering how people are really using your website? The answer may be closer than you think, reports Jared Spool in a post at the User Interface Engineering blog. Though the search log may not be a part of a site's regular analytics package, its contents provide a window into ... more

Mobile campaigns are emerging as powerful ad channel for marketers, outperforming online advertising by nearly five times across a variety of metrics, including unaided awareness, message association, and brand favorability, according to a study by InsightExpress. more

Ask increased its market share for the fourth consecutive month, accounting for 3.44% of US searches in the four weeks ended March 27, 2010, up 21% from February, according to Experian Hitwise data. more

Though US Internet ad revenues were down 3.4% in 2009—to $22.7 billion from $23.4 billion in 2008—there are signs of an emergent recovery, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) reported. more

How much does a new pack of razors cost you per month? Eight dollars? Ten? More than those little blades are worth? Well, Pierre de Nayer recently decided people should be able to get good shaves without being scalped, and he did something creative (and market-based) about it. Enter Raz*War, ... more

Despite the buzz surrounding the iPhone and latest Android devices, the BlackBerry still leads in the smartphone content-download race: RIM's BlackBerry accounted for 63% of smartphone visits to Myxer's mobile content site in March 2010, up 5 percentage points from the 58% recorded a year earlier and outpacing Windows, Palm, ... more

A brand's presence on a social media site not only engenders consumer loyalty but also affects consumers' likelihood to buy, according to a study conducted by Psychster Inc. for Allrecipes.com. Branded profiles on social sites tend to increase intent to purchase, especially when consumers can become fans of brands and add ... more

Over the weekend of Apple's April 3 release of the iPad, 73% of circulated tweets were favorable toward the iPad, but 26% expressed disappointment that the iPad could not replace the iPhone, according to a study from Attensity. more

The next time you dine out, take a close look at the menu—even if you already know what you want to order. The reason? Restaurants have learned a thing or two about convincing their customers to spend more money on certain dishes. "The use of menu engineers and consultants is exploding in ... more

Mark Brownlow of Email Marketing Reports often collates valuable information that we might otherwise miss. Most recently, he reported on the successful test results achieved by various email campaign tweaks. If you need some inspiration for your own efforts, consider findings like these: Adding an extra ... more