Nick Carson, in an article on InternetNews.com highlights a few things that publishers need to think about regarding their RSS feeds.

1. They need to look at better understanding the consumption of the feed.
2. Is it growing or declining?
3. Is the content being re-syndicated?
4. Is that feed showing up on other Web sites?
5. Are your feeds generating traffic back to your Web site?
6. Does your ad sales force know how to sell RSS ad inventory?
7. Do you know how much RSS ad inventory you have available?

Technorati Tags: RSS, Advertising, Pheedo

I've looked forward to this report for the last few years, since I started reading the first one in 2003! Unfortunately, over the years these things have gotten smaller. I still have the printed version of m y 2003 report that was over 130 pages! They're about 1/3 that size now...damn shame, there's so much great marketing knowledge out there!

Your copy of our 2006 Wisdom Report PDF packed with 110 real-life marketing stories from Sherpa readers is ready for you:

http://wisdom.marketingsherpa.com
Props to Omniture for keeping this badboy free to all of us!

Brilliant marketers from the likes of American Red Cross, CompUSA, Cox Communications, Deloitte & Touche, Palo Alto Software, and The Motley Fool were among the marketers who contributed stories for this 4th Annual Sherpa Wisdom report.

Topics include:

- Email campaign segmentation test results
- Search marketing lessons (especially combining PPC and SEO)
- Offline advertising and marketing lessons
- Web site design and landing page lessons
- Business-to-Business marketing campaign lessons
- Office politics and job searching tips for a successful marketing career

Technorati Tags: Advertising, marketing sherpa, marketing wisdom

DIY Network recently launched a two-month internet-only marketing campaign designed to drive DIY Network tune-in via targeted impressions, and drive DIYNetwork.com clickthrough for relevant content.

They did everything online. Site-specific banners, ad networks, blog advertising, RSS advertising (no podcasting, though), contextual ads and paid search.

Not only did they do online marketing proud, they got results from their two-month effort to boot!

- 67.9 million impressions
- 580,000 clickthroughs
- 80 percent of site visitors were new to DIYnetwork.com
- Visitors viewed an average of seven pages
- Rich-media banners average interaction rate was around 10 percent
- CTR for paid search increased 183 percent during the campaign, reaching 4.25 percent

They were even so kind as to share a diagram of their success with iMediaConnection.

Source: DIY Networks via iMediaConnection

Technorati Tags: Advertising, DIY Network, Pheedo, RSS

Playfuls.com has a pretty insightful article from last week on Google's move into the online radio station advertising network space via their purchase of dMarc, the ad network for Internet radio stations.

As you can see, podcasting is still a virgin market, at least from the advertising point of view, and the announcement made by Google, that is will buy dMarc Broadcasting, a company that maintains and runs an advertising network for online radio stations, represents perhaps something more than an integration of Google AdWords in the audio content.

Very few players - Pheedo included - have been able to really crack the podcasting ad market. There are a number of factors at work, not the least of which is a strong inventory for advertisers to choose from. Most podcasts are not really great places for advertising just yet...due to low listenership and the subject matter of the usually niche content.

Bill Flitter, CMO of Pheedo, a company that’s trying to create such a network, declared in July 2005 for Clickz Network that he has managed to gather round 30 podcasts on which to run campaigns for 6 advertisers , http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3517416, which is not much, but nevertheless, it’s a start.

At WOMMA, Bob Garfield made some pretty compelling arguments that podcasting and other niche consumer 'pulled and controlled' media will win the day...but that's IN THE FUTURE. Perhaps, 5 years down the road or so.

While I don't exactly feel warm & fuzzy about Google's pushing forward in this space, I do like it for the fact that it lends credibility to an ad-supported model for content. There were some pretty heated discussions last week, especially from the hardcore grassroots marketing folks, about how awful advertising in podcasts really is. Face it folks - no one works for free here. I personally enjoy the advertising in, say, Adam Curry's podcast because it's targeted and relevant...which is what advertising in Web 2.0 should be all about anyway.

Technorati Tags: Advertising, Pheedo, Podcasting, wombat06

Todd and the 800 CEO Read crew have a new project called 'In Bubble Wrap' where you can sign up and be eligible to win a business related prized each day (just books, so far, which is awesome...) just by answering a couple of questions and submitting your info.

Check out http://beta.inbubblewrap.com/

A different approach to get a marketing message out to urban pedestrians can be to plaster posters in the the windows of vacant storefronts. A company providing this service, Inwindow Outdoor, is finding clients in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. So far, most posters have been for entertainment, automotive or liquor brands.

I think this is sure cool, but what about for those cities that aren't *big enough* for Inwindow to setup shop? Here are some ideas for all those vacant storefront windows:

1. Urban developers should use the space to advertise their other properties around town
   
2. Local businesses or business associations should use the space to promote others on the same street.
   
3. Events could use any and all vacant space to promote upcoming venues that promote the respective urban district
   
4. Redevelopment districts could advertise the benefits of relocating into a specific part of town
   
5. Local nonprofits could align with a developer to promote their cause in rotation as spaces become vacant and others are filled - need knows no season, as they say.
   
6. Retailers could develop 'portable window displays', the type that good bike shops and clothing stores do, which feature their product in a modular component that they can cart around to the different vacancies throughout the year.
   
7. Developers could do a lot better self promotion with a series of "See Your Business Here" vignettes of large format renderings that show what type of business one could put in their space.

[via Media Life]