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If you haven’t noticed recently, all media outlets usually wind down the year with numerous publications on the year in review, or in this case the entire past decade. On the contrary, today the MediaTrust blog published a blog post containing the “Top 10 Predictions for Digital Marketing in 2010“. For this forward thinking post, I was honored to contribute my predictions on the near future of digital marketing.  So, if you haven’t already seen my predictions, here they are:

#9. Spending for online video advertisements will continue to increase due to the expanding amount of feature programs now available online.

#3. Consumers will begin to see much more relevant online advertisements due to expanding ad-targeting capabilities, which will be drawing from social media profiles in particular.

To elaborate on #9 briefly, online video is emerging with endless advertising opportunities. Some quick facts: YouTube is the #2 search engine, behind Google of course. This means that consumers demand video, and the advertising dollars will follow the consumers.

As for the # 3 prediction, ad-targeting is now more precise than ever with the amount of data ad servers can use in their tracking algorithms. Consumers will begin to see much more specific advertisements, that relate to the content their browsing history and content published online. Furthermore, the IAB will begin to assume more responsibility for making sure that the ads are targeted towards the right people.

Case in point:

Today I was browsing AOL’s video website SlashControl.com when I came across an ad on their homepage. Take a look- (Click the image for a close up!)

How cool is that? The ad server actually detected that the ad about to be shown would have been irrelevant to me, and thus a waste of the advertisers budget. I was impressed by this real-time action to maintain relevance and create a mutual win-win situation between consumer and advertiser. For more information on this function implemented by the IAB, along with other ad targeting information,  visit their site here.

I look forward increasing relevance and transparency in digital marketing, in 2010. Good luck in the new year!

Often I get the question: “How did you learn all about this?”  The answer is by reading and doing. In order to be able to understand positive and negative trends in any industry, it’s imperative that you read often about related topics and events. This is because being successful in any industry is a process, not a singular event that suddenly clicks with you after one game changing event.

Simply put, staying on top of your game enables you to be in position to rise above your competition faster and quicker. Knowledge is power…  How do I stay on top of the digital marketing industry? By reading at least the following-

• Twitter status updates at the end of each day, and clicking through to interesting links.
• The Web List – aka every top social media story of the day from the front page of Digg, Delicious, Reddit, etc. (By # of clicks)
• Affbuzz.com for affiliate marketing news.
• Google Reader to group related RSS feeds.

That’s it really. In order to stay on top of the digital marketing industry I take around thirty minutes each day to read, be informed, and think critically about the material presented.

The controversial thought here though is that many online marketers say “Stop reading!”. The reason for that is because many new people to an industry will only read, and not actually do anything… resulting in negative productivity.

Lastly, staying on top of your game can most literally be seen in sports, where a day off is a day that you lost. So, I want to share an advertisement that I clipped out of a magazine a while back:

“Me and running don’t always see eye to eye. Some days it hurts more than others. But it doesn’t mean I don’t do it. Ideal with it and I keep running because not everything that is good for you always feels good for you. Every day is the day.” – Lance Armstrong

Now in the heart of holiday shopping season, the prices found online this year are irresistible when taking a glance at the virtually unheard of deals. Almost all of the best deals that I have come across, are part of the Bing cashback program. In the Bing cashback program, consumers are rewarded for making purchases online by receiving a percentage of their sale back as a rebate, varying among retailers. This allows online retailers to spend their ad dollars on the high ROI, cost-per-action (CPA) basis. With Bing charging advertisers on a CPA basis, the ad revenue generated from the CPA sale allows Bing to reward consumers by giving a percentage of the revenue back, thus cashback. This cash incentive for the consumer helps advertisers increase conversions on their site’s, and subsequently higher ROI.

Now, the remaining question is how can advertisers afford to payout such a significant portion of the sale to Bing? The answer lies in the fact that the advertisers/retailers no longer have to run PPC campaigns on Bing, which previously ate up a significant chunk of their ad spend and often delivered lackluster results. Advertisers can then payout between 2-25% of each sale to Bing, who then pays the consumer for participating in Bing cashback. Additional perks include advertisers with a cashback campaign receiving higher organic placement in the search rankings, which ultimately increases sales.

For most of the retailers participating in Bing cashback, it is their first advertising campaign based on the performance driven model. So far, the results have been impressive with eBay drawing attention for the most initial success in this case study. With Bing cashback, everyone wins, but most of all the consumers who receive great deals and great products, which hopefully improves their quality of life. Additionally, advertisers increase their ROI with more sales and Bing increases advertising revenue. In other words, this is a performance marketing win!

Setbacks worth noting:
– Only available to users based in the United States
– Cashback may not be paid for up to 60 days.

More information on Bing cashback for consumers and advertisers.