In which of the following, if any, does your organisation plan to invest in 2011?

Key findings:

• 80% of marketers plan to increase the volume of digital projects in 2011
• 76% of the marketers plan to invest in Facebook & 69% in Twitter
• Overall, 95% of respondents plan to use some form of social media in 2011
• 67% of marketers are increasing investment on Unpaid/Earned Media
• Just 14% of all marketers surveyed plan to increase investment in paid traditional media

While these statistics were taken from a global sample, the last point is reflected in the outlook in the latest IBISWorld Report on advertising services in Australia for the next 4-5 year.  Advertising services industry will have to reinvent its services to be more in line with increasing media fragmentation.

The survey respondents were split roughly evenly between the three target groups: agencies, brand marketers, and technologists from around the globe but mostly from North America.

Well for the first time last week, we saw Facebook Advertising trump Google Organic search as the leading source of website traffic.

Just to give you an idea, usually Google organic search dominates over 1/3 of the traffic sources for most of the websites we get to look behind. Referring website such as Twitter, Facebook COMBINE to make another third of traffic sources. Direct traffic mostly accounts for the last third.

However last week we got out eyes on Facebook advertising out doing Google search referrals for the overall month on a clients website.

Wait it gets better – the daily spend for this particular client was just 92 cents.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments sections below?

Also if you want to know how to get started on Facebook advertising, I did a little ‘How to’ video a couple of months ago that makes it super easy for you to understand.

The certainty of breakdown is quite phenomenal.

Let me know you thoughts below!

How much do you spend on Yellow Pages advertising each year? More importantly, are you getting a return to justify that cost? If you are not reviewing your Yellow Pages ad results, you may be shovelling hard-earned dollars down the drain. News Flash: My Yellow Pages go straight into the recycling bin. I don’t even let them in the house. My 9 year old will never ever know what they are.

Here are some flaws:

1. Expensive. Depending on its size and location, an ad can cost around $7,000 per year. Add in extra for designing a customised ad per letter or bold font. It takes a lot of clients just to break even at those costs. I know a business who spent well over $20k a year.

2. Clutter. Where does your ad live? Depending on the size of your market, right next to dozens, perhaps even hundreds of your competitors. I said your competitors!

3. Lack of Engagement. In today’s world, it takes a variety of messages to reach your audience and motivate them to contact you. There is nothing personable about an ad in the Yellow Pages.

4. Difficult to measure. Yellow Pages ads don’t allow you to test different marketing approaches. Once you place an ad, you have to wait a year to test a new headline or message. And unless a client says they found you through the phone directory, you have no way of knowing the effectiveness of your ad.

5. Reach the wrong market. Find out who actually reads the Yellow Pages. Are they actually the people who would buy your product or service?

Did I say never use Yellow Pages ads? No – a well designed Yellow Pages ads certainly have a place in ‘some’ marketing programs. However – If you went through the global financial crisis and the only thing you left in your marketing plan was your Yellow Pages ad – you have a problem. Advertising and marketing are not the same. You would be totally surprised as to what half of that Yellow Pages budget could achieve elsewhere!