New research reports how email marketing is trending with an audience

Advertisers are forever looking for a new way to find their audience in an effective way. To define the media effective, research needs to be done to see how a target demographic consumes it. Harte-Hanks Postfuture Index 2009 – 2010 cataloged consumers email marketing behaviors.

According to the Center for Media Research, the study showed that while open rates declined 9% from 2009 to 2010, click thru rates remained the same, delivery rates increased, and unsubscribe rates dropped. From this, it can be deduced that marketers used higher quality mailing lists.

Overall, engagement levels have been a key to a successful campaign. These levels are a combination between open and click rates. Therefore, marketers are more focused on who is sent email blasts. People who are inclined to a certain product or have expressed interest in the past are more likely to open an email and become engaged in it.

Engagement levels have also become important in a strong delivery rate. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are starting to observe how their consumers manage their email accounts. They are using these engagement metrics to help determine where to place a message.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...

Can radio formats help determine what an audience is reading?

Overall, advertisers can use research to help determine how best to reach their target audience.

The best way to understand media and a target consumer is to be up-to-date with research. The Radio Business Report/ Television Business Report and BIGresearch teamed up to study what radio listeners of a certain style of programming read. The Center for Media Research recently summarized the report’s findings:

Alternative - These listeners’ top five publications were People, Time, Game Informer, Cosmopolitan, and Maxim in that order. This group did not readily choose older skewing magazines like Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, and AARP The Magazine.

Blues - Like alternative, some entertainment publications made the top five list; however, it also shows an interest in urban and cultural magazines. Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Ebony, and National Geographic round out the top five list.

Classical - This group prioritizes its choice publications with Time, People, Readers Digest, National Geographic, and Game Informer.

Country - The top five publications for country allude to a more family-oriented listener with People, Good Housekeeping, Readers Digest, Woman’s Day, and Time.

Latin/Hispanic - People, Cosmopolitan, Time, Game Informer, and Maxim are the top magazines for this radio format.

News - According to the report, this group has diverse tastes when it comes to print with Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, and Readers Digest.

R&B - Listeners gravitate towards more urban titles like People, Essence, Ebony, Time, and Cosmopolitan.

Sports - Not surprisingly sports related publications are the primary choice for this format. They rank as Sports Illustrated, Time, ESPN The Magazine, People, and Maxim.

Talk - This format prioritized Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest, and Consumer Reports as choice reading material.

Top 40/Pop - Entertainment focused publications like People, Cosmopolitan, Time, Sports Illustrated, and Woman’s Day did best with this format.

Overall, advertisers can use research to help determine how best to reach their target audience. The information above lends itself to be especially useful to advertisers who wish to use a multi-platform campaign. It can aid in determining which print and radio formats to use.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...

Total radio audience expands within the last year

Overall, the bigger the audience, the more people will see your branding message.

While radio advertising revenues have struggled to return to its peak in 2006, there has been some modest growth in the last year. Additionally, researchers have noticed that more Americans have been documented listening to radio recently; therefore, the reach of radio has increased.

According to MediaPost, Arbitron released findings from its RADAR 109 report. The recent report recorded the overall audience from both national and network radio. Forty-eight Arbitron markets using the Portable People Meter were surveyed.

Findings showed that people aged 12+ had a broadcast radio audience reach increase from 239,493,000 in June 2010 to 241,468,000 in June 2011. That is roughly a 1% rise. In the same time period, people aged 18+ had an audience swell of .9%, and people between the ages of 18 and 39 increased by .5%.

Overall, the bigger the audience, the more people will see your branding message. The expanding audience mixed with radio still climbing back from recession, which can give room for strong negotiations, can give advertisers a good platform for advertising.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...

Forget the kids, how do you get mom's attention?

To sum up, moms do not have time to be entertained by showy ads that do not explain what the product or service is.

Online advertising gives advertisers the ability to target consumers in very narrow areas like geographic, behavioral and demographic. That capability would go in vain if the creative did not appeal to the intended audience. About.com recently conducted a study called “American Moms” in which moms were observed to see what kind of online advertising engaged interaction and an eventual purchase.

According to MediaPost, the typical American mom goes online to look at categories like food, education, health and travel.

When a mom did notice an online ad, she preferred that the ad have coupons or discounts included in it. In fact, 67% of respondents wanted a coupon. Trailing, 47% noted that an online ad should provide useful information that could be applied to everyday life. If an online ad had these components, most of the women observed sought out more information on the website, printed a coupon for future use, or even purchased the product.

To sum up, moms do not have time to be entertained by showy ads that do not explain what the product or service is. Concise information and functionality towards the family win out.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...