Marketing Pilgrim

Do you think that a bad economy can’t make just about anybody consider anything for a buck? Well, new research shows that the pristine and highly moral world of the bloggers are more for sale than ever before. Of course, I am being just a bit facetious because basically at heart the blogging world is pure and strictly here for the greater good. Rats! There I go again. Maybe there needs to be some research to settle this issue?

Fortunately, eMarketer and IZEA has done that and it appears as if the idea of “earned media” sounds much better as theory rather than reality. Are you really surprised?

Afro-Cheez and Neko-do had their fifteen minutes of fame last week when the Miami Herald ran their Twitter “quotes” as part of their newspaper’s coverage of the anniversary of 9/11.

Understandably, some of the Herald’s actual reporters (Remember reporters? Like Clark Kent, only without the bulky camera) objected and said so in a letter they posted in the newsroom. Their objection was two fold, partly they objected to the idea of displacing actual reporting with inane comments from Twitter. Second, they brought up the fact that the Twitter attributes made the relevancy and quality of the “quotes” even worse because they aren’t real names.

I gotta say that I’m with them on this. Having made my living as a reporter in a variety of mediums over the last nineteen years, I cringe at the way social media has crept in as acceptable journalism.

comScore just released  a new study they conducted with ValueClick Media on the effectiveness of online display advertising according to its media placement strategy. They analyzed 103 campaigns from 39 different advertisers covering 7 industries, examining the lift in brand website visitation and trademark search queries across six different media placement strategies.

Here’s a simplified look at what they found.

Retargeting – Served to users that have previously visited an advertiser’s site.

ReTargeted ads had the highest lift in trademark search behavior with a whopping 1,046 percent. The downside is that retargeting by the very nature of the beast, doesn’t reach as many potential customers so it’s perfect for those who have a high volume of abandoned shopping carts.

Premium Pricing – High visibility placements on premium publishers.

Search Engine Land is reporting on Microsoft’s third attempt to launch a search loyalty program.

Bing Rewards lets users earn credits that can be redeemed for products, gift cards, or charitable donations.

Except, the requirements for joining are outrageous!

People must first install the Bing Bar toolbar, have a Windows Live ID, be on a Windows machine and use Internet Explorer. No Chrome or Firefox, no Macs.

What the heck?

How many more hoops could Microsoft ask us to jump through? And it wonders why its loyalty programs fail.

Stephen Colbert sits down with Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Hilarity and discomfort ensues.

My favorite line?

Colbert on Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” motto: Your stock price is at $500. How low does that price have to go before you say, ‘That’s it, we’re going with evil!’

There are so many ways to go with this one. If you are looking for fiber, a bran muffin might do the trick. Wait, while important, that kind of fiber isn’t what would make sense at this blog now would it?

No this particular hunt for fiber involves Google (who else) but it has a twist. Google’s idea of fiber is having a network that will support (maybe even become?) the backbone of the Internet someday. Either that or it may become a private network if you have enough cash to get on it but that’s another story.

Apparently some of that fiber is run the old fashioned way, which is above ground, in certain parts of the country. That opens the door for “fiber hunters”. While it is fun to think that this group was hired by competitors to hunt and kill Google fiber I doubt it is the case. IT News Australia reports