Contextual Marketing

contextual marketing

From TechTarget 27-04-07

Contextual marketing is an online marketing model in which people are served with targeted advertising based on terms they search for or their recent browsing behavior. By tying the ads users see to their demonstrated interests, advertisers hope to decrease user annoyance with online marketing and, simultaneously, increase clickthrough and conversion rates. Google's AdSense program, for example, is a straightforward version of contextual marketing, in which ads are displayed based on the terms that the user searches for.

In a more sophisticated application, contextual marketing uses an approach called behavioral targeting to serve relevant advertising. Here's an example: The user searches for mid-size car reviews, reads one or two reviews and then reads an article about fuel-efficient models. Next, the user might visit a general news site and see, to his surprise, ads for hybrid vehicles and biofuels.

To the unsuspecting user, the appearance of ads relevant to his interests -- on seemingly unrelated sites -- may seem like pure coincidence, or even synchronicity. In fact, however, each time the user performs a search, reads an article or clicks on an ad, a cookie stored on the computer tracks the activity, which is used to create a behavioral profile of the consumer for marketing purposes.

Behavioral targeting is usually conducted throughout so-called "ad networks" of affiliated Web sites. TACODA, Inc., for example, is an Internet marketing company that oversees an ad network of 4,500 sites. According to the company's chairman, David Morgan, TACODA sees 80 percent of the U.S. online population 50 times a month, through sites including Cars.com, CBS Sports and the Wall Street Journal.

MORE INFO:
> ContextualMarketing.com provides an article called 'Everything You Need To Know About Contextual Marketing.'
> SearchCRM.com offers a chapter download, 'Market-Driven Thinking: Achieving Contextual Intelligence.'
> Ask.com is launching new sponsored contextual advertising listings and will go live the week of May 21st.
> A Harvard Business School journal article, Contextual Marketing: The Real Business of the Internet, explains more about the practice.

Engagement Marketing

This is a presentation from Cord Silverstein, a marketing blogger (Marketing Hipster). This was presented to the American Marketing Association.

There is also a link to a podcast (mp3 file) by David Weinberger at the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council's Social Media Cluster this afternoon (24-004-07) titled "Taking Back the Internet: How Social Media will Transform Media and Institutions". It was followed by an 80 minute discussion period that involved questions and comments from many of the 35 or so attendees and lots more from David.

Discussion:
1. Do you think this is an important issue for web marketing?
2. How does this view differ from the conventional marketing approach?

Google and Privacy

Google has recently acquired DoubleClick, a leading on-line based advertising company. Concerns have been expressed about the dangers of one organisation having access to a vast amount of personal information.

Google to Buy DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion

Google in Privacy Hot Seat
"Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick will give one company access to more information about the Internet activities of consumers than any other company in the world."

How Paranoid Should I Be about Google?

Tuesday, April 17, 2007 12:06 PM PT Posted by Edward N. Albro

What I search for: Google's cookie lasts for decades and could be keeping a record of every search query I submit.

What Web sites I've visited since 1996: DoubleClick's been around longer than Google and has probably had its own tracking cookie on every computer I've used virtually since I started browsing the Net.

What I write and read in email: I have two Gmail accounts with a total of 26,389 messages, all of which have been scanned by Google so they can place contextual ads within them.

What I'm doing when: Google Calendar doesn't have all of my activities, but it's got a lot.

What's on my hard drive: Google Desktop indexes the contents of my hard drive and mixes search results from that index in with my Web search results.

Where I go: I've got Google's great Maps app on my Treo and use it frequently to get directions to new places.

What I'm producing: So far, I've only dabbled with Google's Docs & Spreadsheets applications,

1. How is DoubleClick different from Google?
2. What can Google gain from this acquisition?
3. What can be done to protect privacy in this situation?

Google Privacy Statement Highlights
DoubleClick Privacy Statement

FUTURE FOCUS - NEW CYBERSPACE WORLDS

SBS
08:30 pm
FUTURE FOCUS - NEW CYBERSPACE WORLDS
A booming business has sprung up at the crossroads where virtual worlds and the real world meet. In auctions inside these realms, imaginary real estate and virtual islands are selling for hundreds of thousands of real dollars. Weapons and characters are also being exchanged every day for a few dozen gold coins. Millions of ‘gamers' worldwide spend on average 30 hours a week playing in these boundless realms, creating their own new personalities as players in the game (known as ‘avatars'). (From France, in English, French and Mandarin) CC WS SMS Alert Code: 0115

http://www.sbs.com.au/whatson/index.php3?progdate=17:04:2007
The show will appear on SBS on Tues, 17th April.
We thought this could be a great program to watch re: virtual worlds-
Posted by Vicky and Josie yes, on a Saturday night study binge! How sad :(

New Business Model for the Music Industry?

From Marketing Hipster Blog:

1. Each record company open up their entire library to be able to buy online whether that is through iTunes or their own web site.
2. Offer a higher sound quality through our online stores. If the CD is recorded in 192 kbps, double it online. The best sound quality possible is one click away through our online store.
3. Offer outtakes, videos, etc. when buying online, something they cannot get in the stores and cannot get by stealing. The reason why they cannot get it through stealing is we integrate these extras with our web site. A user will have to register and that person only will be able to get these add-ons. Very similar to how iTunes works.
4. Integrate the music with other offerings as well. For instance, buying directly from the publisher gives a buyer VIP access to the artists blog. They can chat live with the artists, get information before anyone else, etc. etc.
5. Partner up with social sites like MySpace where we can offer online concerts, live web chats, etc. Get our fans involved on their terms not ours!

http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/03/27/what-would-you-change-riaa/

From Recording Industry Association of America
Music Theft at 23 Campuses Targeted in Second Wave of New Deterrence Program
Music and Movie Industries Applaud Release of New Study Documenting High Cost of Piracy on Los Angeles Economy

Breaking News: iTunes and EMI do a deal!

"Cyber Suicide"

I read this article recently in the Herald Sun on Britain's first recorded 'Cyber Suicide'! This makes me wonder: How could this have gone so far? Do people really take 'chat rooms' seriously? Or take more risks?


http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21440941-11869,00.html

Politics & Web 2.0

PART 1
Below is a post from a blog for On-line Marketing and Customer Experience on a recent event.
1. What is a citizen ad?
2. Will this be a factor in the next Australian federal election?
3. Will the Obama campaign make effective use of Web 2.0?

Power in the Hands of Voters and Customers

from Seven87.com - Online Marketing and Customer Experience by Charlie

You may have heard of the anonymous video of Apple's old "1984″ ad that was edited into an anti-Clinton and pro-Obama clip . The creator has come out and is speaking about the powershift in politics to ordinary people that can create and share media.

Political analysts alternatively hailed or criticized it as a turning point in the development of the unregulated world of guerrilla political marketing after it recorded nearly 1.5 million views.

"There are thousands of other people who could have made this ad, and I guarantee that more ads like it ― by people of all political persuasions ― will follow. This shows that the future of American politics rests in the hands of ordinary citizens," de Vellis wrote, adding: "This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last. The game has changed."

The same "decentralization" of media is true with business… product review sites, ratings, blogs, podcasts and videos, all built by customers can be a huge positive or negative impact on your brand and sales. Hundreds of thousands of customers and prospects can see negative or positive messages about your service, product quality and support. For most, (like Clinton) this shift is going to be painful before it's positive.

I think it deserves a renewed focus on your customer experience. Are you ready for a user-generated video about your product or service?

PART 2

From Paul Gillin's blog (Social Media and the Open Enterprise):

Author Jackie Huba on Citizen Marketers

Barak Obama web site: http://www.barackobama.com/

PART 3 "Why I made vote different ad"