For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Interactive Attribution, Q4 2009

ClearSaleing, Visual IQ, And Atlas Lead, With \[x+1\] And Coremetrics Close Behind

by Emily Riley, October 20, 2009

In Forrester's 44-criteria evaluation of interactive attribution vendors, we found that while no vendor offers a fully formed solution, ClearSaleing, Visual IQ, and Atlas lead the pack. ClearSaleing, a standalone attribution tool with rich modeling, comes . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Selecting An Agency For Social Marketing

The Basic Steps Interactive Marketers Should Follow For Picking The Right Agency In This New Space

by Sean Corcoran, September 30, 2009

Social marketing is a hot topic in the world today, and many interactive marketers have inherited this responsibility on top of existing roles. And while marketers often rely on their agencies for many aspects of their business, the role of agencies with . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: US Interactive Agencies — Strategy And Execution, Q3 2009

R/GA, VML, Sapient Interactive, And OgilvyInteractive Lead With Several Close Behind

by Sean Corcoran, August 7, 2009

Forrester's evaluation of the strategy and execution capabilities of interactive agencies across 39 criteria finds that the market has matured considerably in the past 18 months. The market is now ready to take a big step to join, and in some cases even . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Australian Interactive Marketing Agencies, Q3 2009

Amnesia Razorfish, HotHouse, Hyro, And The White Agency Emerge As Leaders

by Steven Noble, July 30, 2009

Forrester's first-ever evaluation of Australian interactive marketing agencies looked at 36 criteria and revealed a market that is split between its roots in technology and its emerging focus on marketing strategy. Amnesia Razorfish, HotHouse, Hyro, and . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

How To Organize Your Company For Social Computing

Brands Must Organize Using A Hub-And-Spoke Model

by Jeremiah K. Owyang, June 24, 2009

The biggest challenge brands often have to overcome isn't technology but managing cultural change within the enterprise. With an ever-increasing number of brands engaging in social media marketing in recent years, companies need to not only be properly . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Online Directories And Internet Yellow Pages In Europe

by Nate Elliott, May 29, 2009

Most Europeans follow traditional national preferences when looking for directory information: British and German users prefer offline directory options, while French users — trained by Minitel to get phone numbers and addresses on their computers — show . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Navigating The Agency Landscape

A Road Map For Selecting And Managing Interactive Agencies

by Sean Corcoran, May 21, 2009

The drastic changes in consumer behavior due to fragmented media and Social Computing have created a fragmentation of agency services that is a virtual minefield for marketers. Selecting and managing an interactive agency portfolio in this new world can . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Search Marketing Vendor Landscape

A Directory Of Search Marketing Technology And Services Providers

by Shar VanBoskirk, March 25, 2009

Search marketing vendors provide the technology and services needed to manage increasingly complex paid search media buys and search engine optimization efforts. In January 2009, we published a detailed evaluation of seven US search marketing agencies . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Beyond SMS: Advanced Tactics For Mobile Marketers

by Neil Strother, March 3, 2009

Marketers who have used the mobile channel have confidence in SMS or text messaging because of its wide reach. But it has creative and technical limitations. Experienced mobile marketers should try more advanced tactics, including coupon applications, . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Ad Networks For Brand Advertisers

by Emily Riley, Michael Greene, February 17, 2009

Cash-strapped brand advertisers are searching for value, and although ad networks have traditionally been most popular with direct response advertisers, access to higher-quality inventory, improved targeting, and greater transparency mean networks such . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Listening Platforms, Q1 2009

Nielsen BuzzMetrics And TNS Cymfony Lead A Pack Of Strong Performers

by Suresh Vittal, January 23, 2009

In response to marketers' changing needs, brand monitoring vendors are evolving to offer a more strategic and comprehensive platform. Forrester refers to this category of vendors as listening platforms. Listening platforms differ from brand monitoring . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Listening Platform Landscape

New Solutions Extend Beyond Tracking To Deliver Consumer Insights

by Suresh Vittal, January 22, 2009

Consumers continue to use social technologies to wrestle control of brands away from organizations. Marketers operating in this hyper-inclusive environment must go beyond simply tracking brand mentions and impressions and get at the root of the discussion. . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: US Search Marketing Agencies, Q1 2009

iProspect, iCrossing, And 360i Emerge As Leaders

by Shar VanBoskirk, January 21, 2009

Forrester's evaluation of search marketing agencies against 72 criteria finds this market more mature than during our 2006 Wave. iProspect leads the study again, this time because of its strategy and corporate leadership. iCrossing takes top honors for . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Community Platforms, Q1 2009

Jive Software and Telligent Systems Lead An Emerging Market

by Jeremiah K. Owyang, January 9, 2009

Forrester evaluated nine of the 90-plus vendors in the exploding community platforms market. Jive Software and Telligent Systems lead the pack because of their strong administrative and platform features. Both Strong Performers, KickApps and Pluck enable . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Interactive Marketing Maturity Model

Forrester's Framework Benchmarks Interactive Capabilities And Provides A Road Map For Progress

by Shar VanBoskirk, November 19, 2008

Marketers are far from mastering the performance and integration of interactive channels. To mature, they should use Forrester's interactive marketing maturity model to classify their firms into one of four levels: Skeptics, Experimenters, Practitioners, . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Case Study: Epicor Software Uses Personas To Boost B2B Search Marketing Results

by Shar VanBoskirk, September 29, 2008

During the past two years, Epicor Software built a paid search marketing program that today provides a good model for B2B marketers initiating search marketing or those looking to better use search to drive leads. By targeting specific audiences with . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Crafting A Content Moderation Policy

Win User Trust And Avoid Disaster With Guidelines For User-Generated Content

by Steven Noble, August 11, 2008

For social applications like blogs and communities, content moderation policies determine when to publish or delete user-generated content. When approached correctly, content policies support marketing and business objectives, build user trust, and prevent . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Best And Worst Of Social Network Marketing, 2008

Forrester Applies Its Social Network Marketing Review Methodology To 16 Major Firms

by Jeremiah K. Owyang, July 18, 2008

Forrester applied its Social Network Marketing Review methodology to programs run by 16 firms in four industries: automotive, media, technology, and consumer products. Only the BMW Series 1 received a passing grade, and half of the firms scored a zero . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Secret To Email Delivery

Hint: There Is No Secret, Really — Delivery Hinges On Best Practices

by Julie M. Katz, July 7, 2008

Ensuring that email messages make it to the inbox continues to be a critical challenge for email marketers, particularly as spam volumes increase and Internet service providers (ISPs) change their guidelines for which messages get delivered. Marketers . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Working With Web 2.0 Startups

Unlike B2C Startups, Many B2B Startups Are Great Partners For Marketers

by Josh Bernoff, June 9, 2008

Hundreds of consumer-focused Web 2.0 companies have sprung up, but most struggle to attract traffic and monetize it. This is why some worry that Web 2.0 is a bubble. But much of the current value in this market comes from corporate applications; many . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Microsoft/Yahoo!: No Deal

Microsoft's Withdrawal Of Premium Offer Hurts Yahoo! The Most

by Shar VanBoskirk, Charlene Li, May 5, 2008

Microsoft took its offer to buy Yahoo! off the table on Saturday after Yahoo! asked for $3 more per share. Forrester believes that the outcome of this three-month-long online media soap opera puts huge pressure on Yahoo! to quickly prove itself viable . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Agencies Must Build Digital Skills To Survive

by Peter Kim, April 11, 2008

Traditional advertising agencies face significant technical difficulties. Clients are shifting business to digital shops, and consumers have turned away from media channels that built the agency industry and toward emerging Internet media. Ad agencies . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Google's OpenSocial: Good News For Marketing Widgets But No Silver Bullet

by Jeremiah K. Owyang, April 10, 2008

Google, along with a congress of more than a dozen social networks, plans to launch OpenSocial, a set of standards that will allow widgets to be built once and run on any Web site compatible with OpenSocial. What's in it for interactive marketers? The . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

AOL Buys Bebo: Prepare For Social Influence Marketing

by Charlene Li, March 18, 2008

AOL acquired social networking site Bebo for $850 million, signaling the start of traditional Web portals moving into the social Web. With a member base of 40 million users, centered primarily in Europe, Bebo represents an opportunity for marketers to . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

How To Choose The Right Social Technologies

Choose Based On Objectives And Include Success Metrics

by Josh Bernoff, March 4, 2008

Building a social technology strategy? Pick your objective first, then choose the appropriate technology to accomplish your goals. In this document we describe which technologies work best for listening, talking, energizing, supporting, and embracing . . .