First Cut

US advertisers last year spent 21 cents of every ad dollar targeting radio and print audiences; 38 targeting cable TV viewers; and 41 targeting mobile phone users, according to Kleiner Perkins.

No surprise here.

Americans over 65 still love their cable TV. In fact, they devote 58% of their waking hours to it, says the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But Americans under 65 don't—and they're cutting the cable for the ad-free TV streamed by Netflix and its competitors.

Where ads once enriched many companies, only two—Google and Facebook—are reaping cable cutting's windfall.

And it's Netflix's fault, media reporter Derek Thompson says.

Netflix launched subscription-based TV, robbing large screens of viewers—and advertisers of prospects. As a result, advertisers are targeting viewers under 65 on their phones, where Facebook and Google have a duopoly.

"If the dynamic tech duo could go back in time and design the perfect ally to push advertising from TV to mobile phones," Thompson says, "it would look exactly like Netflix."

The New New Rules of Marketing and PR

Either write something worth reading or
do something worth writing about.

— Benjamin Franklin

David Meerman Scott galvanized marketers a decade ago with The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

The book still makes everyone's list of "all-time favorites."

Scott's advice was premised on a sudden realization: gatekeepers had grown irrelevant.

If marketers only thought and acted like journalists, and exploited the popularity of websites and social media channels, their messages could "go direct" to customers.

Revolutionary thinking in the day.

But times change, the tragedy of the commons is inescapable, and rules wear out.

Content Shock is now Public Enemy Number 1.

The new new rules of marketing and PR are:

1. Don't create content. Create content customers want.
   
   
2. Don't create buzz. Create products that create buzz.

Whistling Past the Graveyard

M&A strategist Denzil Rankine told attendees of UFI's European Conference in April the compound annual growth rate of the "core product of exhibitions"—namely, floor space—is limping along at a mere 2%.

Inflation will eat that—and more—for breakfast.

When you consider how complacent most concrete-peddling association show organizers are, the best you can say is they're "whistling past the graveyard."

The idiom has two meanings, one positive, one negative.

"Whistling past the graveyard" can mean you're displaying nonchalance in the face of danger.

Or it can mean you're clueless.

Whichever's the case, associations need to find new revenue streams to shore up concrete sales.

They can't just hope shows will return to vitality by themselves, the economy will boom, or that "Millennials will attend when they get jobs."

Should You Love Direct Mail?

Direct mail response rates have reached a 14-year high, according to the Direct Marketing Association's latest Response Rate Report.

So if you've been looking for a competitive weapon, look no further.

If your foes have abandoned the mailstream, you have an opportunity to dominate the channel with the highest response rate of all.

The response of direct mail for house lists now stands at 5.3%; the response rate for rented lists, at 2.9%.

Dazzling, compared to other channels.

Web advertising garners a paltry .9% response; email, a .6% response for house lists, and a .3% response for rented lists; social a .6% response; and paid search a .5% response. None even cracks 1%

While email and social have a higher ROI (122% and 28% respectively), direct mail's ROI (27%) ain't too shabby.

What's not to love?

5 Keys to Content Marketing Success

Sadly, 6 in 10 content marketers can't measure success.

Measuring success requires that you establish goals and KPIs, says DMG's Gordon Plutsky:

Reach. How many people does our content touch? Measures include page views, social impressions, newsletter opens, etc.

Engagement. How many people read our content? Measures include clicks, PDF downloads, video views, etc.

Sharing. Do people share our content? Measures include shares on social networks, forwarding of links, forwarding of newsletters, etc.

Conversion. Do people raise a hand? Measures include list sign-ups, form completions, webinar sign-ups, sales inquiries, etc.

Revenue. Do people buy anything? To measure sales, you must code your inbound tactics and import the attributions to your CRM system—a process that defies even the most practiced marketers.

Feel daunted? View success as a "comprehensive strategic plan rather than a ream of numbers," Plutsky says.