Only one in five B2B marketing and sales professionals (20%) say their demand generation campaigns are fully effective, whereas 80% say they are ineffective to semi-ineffective, according to a survey from Corporate Visions. more

Every email marketer knows that great calls to action don't just happen on their own. "Clearly identifying what you offer and how you want to convey that offer requires thoughtful consideration and good timing," says Leigh Dow in an article at MarketingProfs. So how do you craft calls to action that ... more

Humorous ads consistently resonate best with viewers, regardless of the state of economy or year, according to a report by Nielsen, which examined the advertising effectiveness of more than 4,000 ads before, during, and after the "Great Recession." more

With more than 180 million US Internet users watching some 36.6 billion online content videos in May 2012, video ads posted another month of record-breaking gains, surpassing the 10-billion mark for the first time on record, according to data from the comScore Video Metrix service. more

Driven by the need to compete more aggressively in their core markets, nearly nine in ten American manufacturers (86%) say they are investing in online marketing in 2012, and 52% are increasing those investments over 2011 levels, according to a survey from ThomasNet.com. more

Internet advertising revenues reached $8.4 billion in the first quarter of 2012, up 15% from $7.3 billion a year earlier, setting a new record for the reporting period, according to a report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US. more

In only two years since the release of Apple's iPad, tablets have reached critical mass in the US: One in four smartphone owners used a tablet during the three-month period ended April 2012, according to data from comScore. more

Nearly three in four mobile users (74.0%) say they fully pay attention to mobile ads while browsing the Web, either on a regular (35.3%) or occasional (38.7%) basis, according to a recent survey from Prosper Mobile Insights. more

Building to its IPO, Facebook unrolled improvements that let marketers optimize ads for multiple actions (not just Likes). In a post at Mashable, Victoria Ransom shares four tips for enhancing performance with those action-driven optimization capabilities. Now more than ever, she notes, "the challenge to create organic-feeling and genuine ads ... more

Marketing automation is on the rise: 59% of senior marketers say they expect the number of automated campaigns to increase over the next 12 months, and 83% expect the use of marketing automation to improve the efficiency of their marketing processes, according to a report by Forrester Research and Silverpop. more

Asked which aspects of e-tail shopping they'd like retailers to improve, 58% of online shoppers cite free or discounted shipping, while 42% cite ease of returns and exchanges and 38% cite the variety of brands and products available, according to a study by comScore and UPS. more

In today's social and mobile media landscape, confusion reigns regarding who in the organization controls the customer conversation: 58% of C-level executives say the CEO is responsible for customer communications via social and mobile channels, but only 28% of middle managers agree with that assessment, according to a report by ... more

Long-form content—defined as videos lasting longer than 10 minutes—accounted for more than one-half of the total time people spent watching online video across all connected devices in the first quarter of 2012, up from 25% six months earlier, according to Ooyala's Global Video Index Report. more

Americans are in love with their tablets: 91% of people who own a tablet say they take their device to bed with them, and 15% say they would give up their car in order to keep their tablet, according to survey from Yahoo and Ipsos MediaCT. more

Though online marketing is still a work in progress for many organizations, most corporate management teams are fully supportive of digital investments, driven by the benefits of improved marketing ROI, stronger customer analytics, and richer online engagement, according to a report by the CMO Council. more

Global digital out-of-home media (DOOH) revenues, generated by digital place-based networks billboards and signage operators, grew 15.3%, to $6.97 billion in 2011, and are forecast to accelerate 19.2% to $8.3 billion in 2012, according to data from PQ Media. more

"More folks turn to the Internet than any other medium—including newspapers, TV, or word-of-mouth—for local information," writes Tom Shapiro in an article at MarketingProfs. "Furthermore, a whopping 83% of local search users contacted businesses offline ... and half of all local business searchers eventually made purchases." These days, a basic local search strategy ... more

Nearly two-thirds (66.2%) of national brands invest in local marketing (i.e., they conduct marketing campaigns directed at customers in their local markets) but only 42.0% measure the return on investment (ROI) of such efforts, according to a new study by Balihoo. more

In the next year, Canada is expected to enact new legislation restricting the use of consumer data for marketing purposes. But most US marketers are unaware of the new law and the potential fines associated with noncompliance, according to a survey from international business law firm Fasken Martineau. more

Social media advertising revenue—now dominated by Facebook and Twitter—is forecast to reach $9.8 billion in 2016, up from an estimated $3.8 billion in 2011, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.0%, according to BIA/Kelsey's US Local Media Annual Forecast. more

What can gardening techniques teach you about growing a keyword plan? Quite a lot, it turns out. "When you plant seedlings, you need to plant them in groups according to how much sun they need and how aerated the soil should be," writes Jenny Halasz at Search Engine Land. "You ... more

Mothers are more present, more active, and more engaged users of social networking sites than other women, according to a study by Performics. Moreover, moms are 45% more likely than other women to say they have made a purchase as a result of a recommendation via social media (42% vs. ... more

Advertisers are warming to Facebook's new social ad formats: Over the past 12 months, the proportion of Facebook ad budgets allocated to "social ads" has increased fourfold, from 5% in March 2011, to 23% in March 2012, according to a report from Marin Software. more

B2B marketers are increasing marketing budgets 6.8% on average in 2012, according to a survey from Forrester Research. Across various industries, gaps in marketing investment growth have narrowed from levels reported in 2011. more

At MIPTV in March, YouTube's Joe McDermottroe introduced the company's latest Creator's Playbook—a bible of video production gold—by giving away tips on how to make the best of your own YouTube video content. While of course it's up to you to produce unique content that captivates users in the first few seconds, ... more