Category Archives: Online Advertising

Is the Daily Deal Phenomenon over?

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How many of you are still receiving emails from daily deal sites like Groupon or Social Shopper? For those that still do, are you getting tired of receiving deals for laser hair removal? I don’t need one each week thanks!

When Groupon first game it out, it revolutionized the way users began shopping and it graced the cover of Forbes magazine to become the “fastest growing company…ever!”. But in this new digital age, Groupon and its copy-cats have failed to keep up with  consumer and tech-marketing trends. The biggest one being no customization.

Firstly its emails are not customized to my specific interests and the only setting I can choose to get deals in, is to select which city I’m in, which is by no means targeted marketing. For the most part, a Groupon subscriber in any given city gets the same damn offer as every other Groupon subscriber in that city.

Secondly, its emails have become like direct mail that I will barely open. Groupon blasts its subscribers with irrelevant mail. ie. The time I got an email for Britney Spears Tickets for $25. Great price…but not for me.

Thirdly, companies are realizing that the ROI of running a Groupon is very limited. Its business model was supposed to get customers in the door and then once they’ve tried your product/service, become loyal fans of what you’re offering. Too bad, that only works if you product is amazing in the first place…which in that case, you wouldn’t need to run a promo. Ironic.

So here’s my quick recommendation. Let me choose specific categories I’m interested in (i.e. Sports, health) and then notify me when the stores I most often shop at are running a promo. Let me create a customized newsletter that comes only once a week – it would be awesome if I had a Pinterest like email newsletter that I could quickly scroll through with all the category deals i’ve subscribed too. I guarantee you one thing, I’ve got enough laser hair removal to last a lifetime so you won’t find that on my board :p


 

It’s About Time…or is it?

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For the first time in 2012, Online Ad spending will surpass Print Ad’s. Check out the original post on Mashable:

“According to a study released Thursday by eMarketer, online advertising is expected to generate $39.5 billion in sales this year — a 23.3% increase from 2011 — compared to a sum of $33.8 billion on print.”

But it’s somewhat surprising that it took this long for this trend to actually take place. I recently attended a marketing conference, and one of the speakers was giving examples of their magazine advertisements. While I still think Print can be somewhat effective, I prompted the question, “Will there always be a place for newspapers or magazines or will do you think everything will become digital?”

He’s response: “I think even though we’re seeing print advertising on the decline, the habit of picking up and reading a newspaper will never grow old”. I somewhat agree, however,  as our younger generation continues to be infiltrated with digital devices and starts to get their news from social media instead, print will eventually be completely filtered out. I know that for myself and friends, that twitter has now become my primary news for global events and trends.

It will be interesting if advertisers can still find a niche for print advertising that’s untapped. Who know’s, maybe we’ll get tired of staring at screens and TV, tired of watching flashy (sometimes obnoxious) digital ads, and revert back to the quiet simplicity of reading a newspaper.

Thoughts?