Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

The trade show, exhibition and event industry is struggling to remain vibrant in a changing world. Budget cuts during the Great Recession trimmed many corporate travel budgets. At the same time, new technology has increased the appeal and popularity of virtual meetings. But industry operators hope to remain relevant by incorporating technology into events and at the same time they are employing more digital media to market themselves.

Marketers have been busily educating themselves and designing online ad campaigns to behaviorally target consumers who might be interested in purchasing their products and services. At the same time, industry watchdogs have been publishing articles about the dangers of this marketing practice. Several ad industry associations have endorsed a new self-regulatory program that was announced earlier this year. But that action may not be enough to prevent possible regulatory activity by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The agency has already solicited comments from consumers and industry officials and plans to release an additional report on this topic on January 31, 2011.

Last week I blogged about how consumers expect apps from well-known marketers to deliver something unique. When apps fail in that respect, consumers ignore them and use their mobile devices to access a marketer’s website. Another study, this one by Moosylvania, gives us more insight into app use by the average consumer and therefore indicates where opportunities may be found for marketers who want to launch an app

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the ways that marketers are improving the look of their display ads. It turns out there’s a lot going on behind the scenes before an online display ad appears in a consumer’s browser. Marketers want to deliver their content to a specific audience for the best possible price. And the media space owners want to maximize the profits for delivering that audience to marketers. This situation has given rise to a real-time bidding market for display ad space. By many accounts, this bidding business model will continue to grow in 2011.

Does a marketer need a mobile app in order to appear relevant and hip to customers? The short answer is yes. But, researchers have found that marketers who are putting together an app just to say they have one could be making a mistake unless they pay attention to what consumers expect and deliver a useful tool.

If a significant portion of online marketing has been targeting white consumers in a narrow age and income range, all that may be about to change. The picture of the typical online consumer has begun to mirror the U.S. population which means marketers must begin to segment their online campaigns to reach a broader range of demographic groups. This is the contention of a recently published eMarketer study.