For online marketers, e-mail delivers

Eighty-two percent of the online marketers surveyed by Datran Media indicated that they plan to increase their use of e-mail marketing in 2008. Further, 55 percent of the respondents said they expect the ROI from e-mail to be higher than any other channel.

New York media solutions company Datran Media surveyed 2,000 online marketing professionals from 90 companies in December 2007 to gain insight into the online channels that impact business.

Overall, the firm’s survey results are consistent with the Direct Marketing Association’s recent report, which found the ROI from e-mail is much higher than other channels. In fact, e-mail ROI will hit $45.65 for every dollar spent in 2008, more than twice the ROI of other mediums including search and display.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents stated that e-mail has helped boost sales through other channels. In these scenarios, e-mail is leveraged as a tool for sales as well as a media channel.

Commenting on their e-mail programs and plans for 2008, marketers shared a wide variety of thoughts.

“We expect e-mail marketing to drive more sales and increase ROI of the e-mail channel in 2008,” said Matt Rihtar of Insurance.com.

“E-mail keeps us in touch with our customers in an industry where we only have contact for one or two months a year,” said survey respondent Joanne Carry of dmg world media, an exhibition and publishing firm. “As we are producing shows, it allows us to continue a conversation and keep [consumers] interested.”

“In 2008, e-mail will become a more significant contributor and a more important media element in the sophisticated advertiser’s marketing arsenal,” said Howard Koval of Hit Start.

In addition to increased use of e-mail as a media and lead-generation channel, the Datran Media survey found that 80 percent of respondents indicated e-mail was the strongest performing media buy ahead of search and display; search is the favored channel for complementing the e-mail channel; and more than 80 percent of marketers send targeted e-mail campaigns.

What a tattoo can say about you: naughty, nice or neutral?

A recent survey reveals a discrepancy between how people with a tattoo view themselves and how they are perceived by others. Thirty-six percent of those with a tattoo say it makes them feel more rebellious, and 31 percent say it makes them feel sexy. Conversely, 47 percent of respondents without a tattoo say people with are less attractive (up from 42 percent from 2003), and two in five (39 percent) say people with a tattoo are less sexy.

Research company Harris Interactive, Rochester , N.Y. , conducted a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,302 U.S. adults, surveyed online, between January 15 and 22, 2008, to learn how having a tattoo makes people feel/do things differently. Currently, 14 percent of the population says they have a tattoo, just slightly down from 2003, when 16 percent had a tattoo.

When presented with eight different personal characteristics, majorities say that compared to not having a tattoo, having one makes them feel no different. This is especially true when attributed to being healthy, athletic or intelligent, where more than nine in 10 with tattoos say it makes no difference in how they feel. On the other hand, just about one-quarter of those without a tattoo say those with are less intelligent (27 percent) and less healthy (25 percent).

While survey results show that people with a tattoo view their tattoos positively, one-third of those without a tattoo (32 percent) say people with tattoos are more likely to do something most people would consider deviant, compared to 12 percent of those with a tattoo who say the same. Two-thirds (67 percent) of those without a tattoo say having a tattoo makes no difference in whether someone would do something deviant. Over half of those without a tattoo (54 percent) do believe that someone with one is more rebellious, almost the same as those who thought this in 2003 (57 percent).

Internet advertising predicted to be a fertile new frontier

Boston research company the Yankee Group announced that the U.S. online advertising market will reach $50.3 billion in revenue by 2011, more than doubling 2007’s revenue. The Internet accounts for approximately 20 percent of overall media consumption in the U.S. , but advertisers currently invest only 7.5 percent of their budget online. By 2011, nearly 25 percent of all media consumption will be online, drawing 15 percent of the advertising dollars.

According to the Yankee Group Research Report, The Cowboys Dance On…and On: 2007 Online Advertising Forecast, online advertising will grow rapidly in the coming year and beyond as the marketplace evolves. The factors driving this growth are increased online audiences, the development of new types of advertising and the creation of new publisher business models that help sell interactive advertising.

Despite large online audiences and growing Internet media consumption, advertisers’ online budgets continue to lag compared with traditional media. The challenge for digital media companies is to convert Internet media into online advertising revenue. “With Internet connectivity nearly ubiquitous, online advertising growth is inevitable,” said report author Daniel Taylor, senior analyst at Yankee Group. “And yet the Internet is still a relatively new digital medium. Steady growth in online advertising will require publishers to invest extensively in new media and advertising product development.”

Yankee Group provides some predictions for the online advertising market, including: search will get bigger before it gets smaller; low cost-per-thousand (CPM) “dancing cowboys” ads will continue to drive much of the revenue growth even as high-CPM brand advertisers shift their budgets online; privacy will remain a sticking point with users; and social networks will merge into the media fabric (though questions remain whether social networks are the cornerstone of digital media or if they are the “better mousetrap” of the ad server business).

Steady growth requires publishers to invest in new technologies, which lead advertisers to test new ad formats and consumers. Formats that work will become more commonplace, ultimately displacing the most popular forms today. “You have to spend money to make money, and the proverbial buck will stop with the publishers,” added Taylor .