Do you often find yourself wondering, “I have money to spend. Why won’t anyone get back to me?”

For those of us trying to assemble online media plans and execute campaigns, when we finally get that rare good rep, we feel like breaking into song.

Unfortunately, according to the survey I’ve been running, most people on the buying end aren’t happy campers. Eighty-seven percent of my respondents are dissatisfied with the online media reps they contact to buy advertising — over 50 percent of the time.

What are today’s online media buyers unhappy about?

Sixty-four percent of buyers who contact sites they have no previous relationship with say those sites are typically slower to respond than sites with which they have a previous relationship. The majority of these buyers say requests submitted to new sites go unanswered or are answered too late. Respondents say their number one source of frustration is slow response time or unmet deadlines when they’re trying to put together online media plans.

read full story here.

via: eweek.com

Google Dashboard Provides Too Much Info and Yet Not Enough

News Analysis: Google again finds itself in a no-win situation, this time with Google Dashboard. Some claim Google collects too much data in Dashboard, and others say it doesn’t provide enough. Dashboard summarizes the data from the Web services associated with a user’s account. It will list how many Gmail conversations we have going, how many Google Docs we have, Google Calendar appointments and even Web history if we’ve enabled it. But it does not include detail Google collects on us from its server logs, cookies and ads.

News Analysis: With Google Dashboard, Google again finds itself in a no-win situation. In a utopian world, the search engine would be roundly praised for providing a window into the data users generate from using Google applications.

Yet whenever Google puts a foot forward, advertising its action using keywords like “transparency,” “openness” and “privacy,” the company opens itself to a hailstorm of criticism. And that’s what has happened here, with some claiming Google collects too much data in Dashboard and others saying it doesn’t provide enough.

Dashboard summarizes data from the Web services associated with a user’s Google Account. Dashboard, which can be found here or under the Personal Setting section under My Account, will list how many Gmail conversations we have going, how many Google Docs we have, Google Calendar appointments and even Web history if we’ve enabled it.

read full article here.

via MediaPost

In an ironic turning of the media planning tables, online advertisers and agencies are about to get access to one of the primary methods used by their offline counterparts to target consumers based on their lifestyles, media usage and purchasing patterns. In a deal with Nielsen Co., online targeting firm DataLogix will begin offering online planners and advertisers the ability to target users based on Nielsen’s PRIZM segmentation system, which clusters every American household into discrete consumer lifestyles and purchase intents.

The deal, which is not exclusive, is the latest in progression of online targeting firms that are incorporating offline databases and segmentation systems that correlate online users to offline consumer behavior.

“We’ve built a bridge that will start a new phase of online targeting,” boasts Justin Evans, senior vice president-marketing and strategy at Nielsen Co., who struck the PRIZM deal with DataLogix. “The way marketers manage consumers in the offline world can be ported online.” read full article here.

Marketing tools can help keep track of the competiton

via: Columbia Tribune

It’s time to spy on your competitors, and what better day than Halloween to dig out your “Get Smart” gadgets or dress up in your James Bond tuxedo?

One of the most compelling reasons to market online is how easy it is to test, track and measure performance, as discussed in my previous column. What you might not know is you can use some of the same strategies to track what your competitors are doing online — even if you don’t have your own Web site.

In essence, the factors that contribute to ranking a Web site can be reverse-engineered. This gives your company a blueprint and road map of what you need to do to out-market and out-rank your rivals.

Whether you’re analyzing market potential as part of your research for a new business or simply trying to stay one step ahead in a competitive marketplace, identifying your competition and analyzing how they’ve positioned themselves to sell their products and services can be of enormous benefit to you. Read full article here.

Access to so many different kinds of media planning tools…

In the U.S., it seems that there are too many media planning tools. Marketers and agencies have to sort through a host of different ad technologies and then master them which could take weeks, months or even years. Tools that encompass ad servers, RFP tools, inventory management systems, and billing and reconciliation methods. Here is a list of some of the tools available for media planners:

• Nielsen//NetRatings
• comScore’s MyMetrix
• @plan
• Plan Metrix
• comScore Plan Metrix Mobile
• quantcast
• MediaVisor
• Atlas Suite
• Google Ad Planner

If you are a small agency or a Media Planner that does not have access to all these media planning tools, don’t worry, trying to navigate through all of them can just lead to frustration. Moreover, your campaigns can actually perform better using simple data analysis techniques involving real data rather than relying on some of these tools – speaking from experience.

You can find step-by-step free instructions on how to perform these techniques at SmartDigitalSpending.com.