AdSymetrix- Track and Monitor Advertising for your business, whether online or offline.

How AdSymerix Can Help You Sell Your House - Even In This Market

2007-08-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Today's surprise interest rate drop by the Federal Reserve may pry open the tight fists of mortgage lenders and reignite the sluggish real estate market. If you're a realtor, you know that the problems in the mortgage industry are making it harder and harder for even the most qualified buyers to get the money they need to close a deal. If you're actively trying to sell a home, you can only hope that your house is noticed by someone who has not only the interest but also the means to buy.

AdSymetrix knows that there are hundreds of ways for you to market a home. The question that you're faced with is figuring out the best way to market the home you want to sell.

Realtors, and For-Sale-By-Owners, can use AdSymetrix to monitor the effectiveness of any kind of marketing material imaginable. You can track phone numbers from the sign in the front yard, ads placed on Craig's List, listing on your local MLS, even flyers that you hand out at open houses.

When you know what works, you can focus your efforts and -even in this market- give someone a chance to finally buy their dream home.

AdSymetrix is easy to use, simple to sign up and amazingly powerful. Give AdSymetrix a try, signup, click and email tracking are all free.

Becoming Our Own Clients - Using AdSymetrix to Gauge Advertising Effectiveness

2007-08-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

AdSymetrix, the company, has just launched. Our goal is to help advertisers make smarter advertising decisions by providing them (you hopefully) with the information they need to know what works and what doesn't when it comes to their marketing.

When it comes to marketing our business, we're using the same tools we're offering you to determine what works best and what wastes our time. For AdSymetrix, we're looking at a few new ways to get interest into our business and we're tracking each of them.

First, we're looking at some of the pay - per - posting website networks. These networks provide a payment based on whether someone writes a post about your topic. We put a small amount of money in an escrow-like account and give some information about our service. When someone decides that they want to write about us, they grab the necessary information, write whatever they want and some money is deducted from that escrow account and sent to them.

Secondly, we're creating a referral network. Using a company we like called ReferNow, we've created a way to offer our friends and clients rewards for referring their friends and clients to AdSymetrix.

For each of these systems, we've created AdSymetrix Tracking Tools, and over the next few weeks will be able to definitively know which of these systems work for us and could work for you.

So keep an eye out, and let us know what you're doing in your business. Advertising should work, and together with AdSymetrix, we can all make smarter advertising decisions

Follow Your Leads

2007-08-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

When you're looking for new business, you have lots of options. You can buy an email list and blast out a hopefully targeted message, create a referral program and entice your current customer base to somehow bring new people to your door, you can advertise in new publications, buy outdoor ads or hire a kid from down the street to walk around town in a sandwich board.

All of these options could work, but how will you know? How do you know whether the person who made a new appointment for next week saw your number in their email, or was given it by a friend or saw your sandwich walker?

AdSymetrix is here to help. We give you the tools you need to tag all of these ads and then track and monitor the responses.

Our system also gives you the control you need to manage the creation of each new lead. Say you do choose to go the sandwich board route. Aside from the fun of humiliating the guy in the sign, you can learn a lot from the responses you get from the ad. Tag your ad with AdSymetrix and every time you get a call from that sandwich board you'll know who's on the other end of the line. We've integrated Google Maps into our application, so you can determine where your new business is geographically centered. And when someone comes in and says that they've seen your humble sandwich board wearer, you can add their information into AdSymetrix and truly understand the value of your advertising efforts.

Give AdSymetrix a try, sign up, click and email tracking are all free.

Community Newspapers and AdSymetrix Tracking Tools

2007-08-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Put yourself in the mind, today, not of a small business owner who's looking for a place to advertise, but a small business owner who has space to advertise and wants to entice other small business owners into advertising with them.

How can a small publisher, say someone who puts out a weekly community newspaper, create a competitive selling proposition in a field where every day their potential advertisers are bombarded with hundreds of other media choices?

One way is to go head to head against your competition. Provide information directly to your potential advertisers about the value of their placing ads in your newspaper. Of course, to go that route, you'll need to have some kind of information at your fingertips that will make your case. And that's where AdSymetrix comes in handy.

With AdSymetrix, your newspaper could track all the responses for every ad placed. You could then go to your next client meeting and show exactly how many responses the quarter page ad in your schools section generated. And as responses equal opportunity, you could make a powerful case that the Return on their Advertising Spend would be higher with your publication than with any other in the area.

AdSymetrix can help the publisher as much as the advertiser. Knowing what ads - and what publications - work, is just a part of how we help you make smarter advertising decisions.

AdSymetrix In The Blogosphere

2007-08-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

Can we take a moment to thank our (new) good friends at Mashable and KillerStartups for the mentions over the weekend about AdSymetrix.

These websites are great examples of ways that the blogosphere can work to your advantage while marketing your small business. In AdSymetrix' case, we have launched a brand new service onto the internet that allows anyone who uses direct response marketing or any kind of advertising track their advertisements placed anywhere. For us, we want to introduce our service to as many people as possible. That's where sites like Mashable and KillerStartups are great. They introduce our product to new audiences that are interested in finding new ways to do business.

In the case of these two websites, we were lucky enough to be found online and written about. But there's no reason why you can't submit your website, your business, to these or similar weblogs and get on their publicity band wagon.

Best of all, you can sign in with AdSymetrix, include a link in your correspondence and track the results that come from their blog posting. Then you'll know what new business you've gotten just by being you.

Because Advertisers Demand Sandboxes

2007-08-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

NBC and Universal announced today that they will their new viral video website designed specifically to give advertisers a place to put all their supposedly non-advertisement product.

The value of Youtube isn't just in the size of the audience that visits the site, it's in the content that's uploaded - and the public editorializing that got that content online in the first place.

Creating a new "advertiser oriented" video website is creating an artificial sandbox around content that's already out in the world. An advertiser that goes into this site needs to know that just because they can control what's being seen, they won't be able to control who (if anyone) is seeing it.

Advertisers want to surf on the waves of audience participation. But they (you) need to know where the audience is most inviting. AdSymetrix has been designed to help figure out what placements are best for you to reach your potential customers. Customers that may not want to have advertisements spoon fed to them everyday.

Marketplace Looks at How to Sell Online

2007-08-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

NPR offers a lot of great programming. One example is Marketplace. They're a comprehensive financial report radio show wrapped in the warm blanket of friendly conversation. You get the feeling that the people who are telling stories on the show just happen to have this information in their back pocket and are killing some time explaining things to you while you're waiting on a cup of coffee.

Today, they have an article that has some relevance to our interests. Let's Count The Ways To Sell Stuff Online looks at Craig's List, Buy.com and Facebook's latest combined effort, and Reaql People Real Stuff, a new video selling service that's a cross between You Tube and classified advertising.

The options given are interesting, and may be worthwhile for your business. The interesting part of the story, however, isn't the list of new ways to sell online, but the reason why people are looking to sell online. It seems that more and more audiences are moving away from mass market advertising and moving towards smaller entertainment options. That means that the audience for your next ad will be smaller than it was last year.

And the best way to understand how you can still maximize the value of that audience is to know what ads work, and what ads don't. And you can do that with the help of AdSymetrix.

Tag Your Ad - any ad, anywhere - and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. You'll know what new ways are working for your business, and what new ways just make for an interesting article on drive-time radio.

Finding Small Ways to Make Big Money

2007-08-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

Last week, at the BlogHer conference, 17 year old Chloe Spencer stood up in front of a room full of eager bloggers and explained that thanks to online advertising, she didn't need to babysit, sell lemonade or get a job at a fast food restaurant. Thanks to her ability to create an interesting website, and Google AdSense she's making up to $900.00 a week.

Online advertising saved Chloe from having to get a McJob. Smart advertising can save your business from doing the same. When you place an ad, you should know whether it is working for you. And of course, AdSymetrix is here to help.

When you buy your next ad, Tag it with AdSymetrix tracking tools to monitor the responses. You may end up saving a girl from a lousy first job, and create a whole slew of new business for yourself.

A New Month, A New Us - AdSymetrix.Com

2007-08-01T13:19:00.001-07:00

Welcome to August, and welcome to a brand new AdSymetrix.com.

We're excited to introduce our new site and revamped application. Now it's even easier to make smarter advertising decisions.

Come by and look around, sign up is free.

Everyone Wants to Know Everything

2007-07-31T10:37:00.000-07:00

It may be that we're just used to it, using the Internet every day and having all our movements tracked by either our History folder or random advertising Cookies, but something just doesn't feel right when you're tracked in the real world.

This year's Consumer Electronics Show has announced that every participant will have an RFID, or Radio Frequency Identifier attached to their name tags. The hope, on CES' part, is to understand where every attendee has gone during their time at the trade show and provide sponsors with a more exhaustive list of who's visited their booths.

This is all fine and good, for everyone but the attendees. The best you can say about this new plan is that a whole host of unqualified leads will be generated by it, the worst is that the invasion of privacy is ominous.

A simpler way of working this out would be to use AdSymetrix. Every booth could have its own set of tracking tools, and whenever someone came in to talk about their interest in the products, they could have been given one of these tracking tools as a way to get back in touch with the sponsor. The leads would have been higher-quality and would be tracked in a more opt-in, open manner.

AdSymetrix makes creating relationships with new customers easy. Give us a try. Sign Up is free.

Sometimes Your Marketing is Better Than Your Product

2007-07-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

The old jokes goes that the secret behind Evian Water is that when you write it backwards, it spells 'naive'. While that may not be intentional, Aquafina finds itself today dealing with a similar problem: they have been forced to admit that despite their advertising methods, the water they're selling is merely tap water.

It goes to show you that a great marketing message can't go beyond the product you're selling. The relationship you create between your customers and your business is based on the integrity you bring to the counter every day. If you're selling tap water as something special, or high-end chocolate that is little more than repackaged bulk chocolate, you're not being truthful to your customers. And in the end, your customers will look for someone else to do business with.

A great marketing message can garner a load of attention. If you aren't able to fulfill on the marketing message promise, you'll find that all that attention will be in vain.

When you're building your next campaign, remember AdSymetrix. We've created a system to help you understand what marketing messages are generating the greatest interest, to let you know how your customers are seeing you and how they'll expect to be treated.

Give AdSymetrix a try. Sign up is Free

Even Video Games are Advertisement Friendly

2007-07-26T13:03:00.001-07:00

Marketing Charts today fronts a story about Nielsen - the TV rating people - launching Gameplay Metrics in an attempt to understand the size of the video game (and in-game advertising viewing) audience.

The idea is to use that data to create rates for advertising within games. It's an interesting first step. Why just buy a billboard on the highway that leads to your store when you can also buy a billboard within a video game that's played by people who are possible customers?

With millions of people playing games, and with the growing popularity of connecting those games to the Internet, new placement opportunities are being created. Whether it works for your business is a separate question.

AdSymetrix can help you understand whether those new placements are worth your while. Tag Your Ad, place it in the game and let AdSymetrix monitor the responses. Now go save that princess.

Creative that Makes a Splash

2007-07-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

When buying an outdoor advertisement (a billboard, a sign on a bus, a park bench) it's important to do anything you can to first get the attention of the person traveling by the ad, and then get them to respond to the message in the ad.

The advertising weblog 2wenty 4our has a great example of a fantastic outdoor advertisement for Air New Zealand:

Aside from the question of whether the kayaker is going to crash into the ground, the idea of New Zealand being the land of extreme sports and Air New Zealand being the only way to get there is imprinted in the viewer's head.

But even this ad can use some AdSymetrix assistance. If Air New Zealand had Tagged Their Ad with AdSymetrix Tracking Tools they'd be able to know whether this beautiful advertisement makes sense to be on the side of a building or inside an art gallery.

AdSymetrix helps businesses who advertise make smarter advertising decisions. Sign up is free.

Playing The Dozens With Television Advertising

2007-07-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

While you're sitting in your next meeting with some advertising agency, listening to their creative team explain to you how their latest storyboard for your next television ad will finally be the one to break through, keep in mind the limited amount of tools that they have to work with. As Slate fronts today, there are only 12 Kinds of Ads that you'll see on tv.

In the late 70s a creative director at Leo Burnett spent a year analyzing television advertising. He realized that there were only a dozen different ways that advertising sells on television. His idea, in slide show form shows just how little you have to work with when trying to get the attention of your potential customer.

AdSymetrix has been designed to help. When you're thinking about your next campaign, Tag Your Ad with AdSymetrix tracking tools and know who, how and when people are responding.

When Contextual Advertising Strikes Back

2007-07-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Google's brought the idea of context based advertising to amazing levels. Using their filter, people who advertise via AdSense can place an ad on any page that lists almost any word within its content.

This is great if you want to make sure that your modeling agency shows up every time a model is mentioned, or your restaurant shows up every time a particular kind of cuisine is mentioned, but what happens when the content you're advertising next to isn't the kind you'd want associated with your product?

AdPulp points out this disturbing placement of a Folger's Coffee Ad alongside a headline stating, "Coffee Might Trigger First Heart Attack In Some." Suddenly the best part of waking up isn't Folger's in your cup.

It brings to the forefront the need to know as much as you can about the placement of your advertising. And of course, AdSymetrix is here to help.

Tag Your Ad with AdSymetrix and watch the responses. You'll know where and when people are reacting to your ads and what advertisements are good advertisements.

Expermenting With Advertising

2007-07-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

You want to reach that allusive 18-25 demographic. You make cars. You think, "hey, they play immersive video games, what if we were to create an immersive video game that made owning one of our cars the goal of the game?"

If you're Toyota, you're big enough to experiment. Sometimes, the experiment doesn't quite work out. Take for example the latest campaign for Scion. Toyota's hoping to launch a new 'trendy' car model called the xD by using a surprisingly violent message.

Slate looks at the new campaign and game today, and nicely points out that while the overall strategy may be worthwhile, the execution of that strategy leaves mixed messages. The goal of the game associated with the new xD is to kill as many "Sheeples" as you can, ultimately using their blood to fuel your new car.

Toyota would hope that the viewer (or in this case, the player) is left thinking that by owning an xD they've destroyed the sheep-like conformity plaguing the car buying public. But the feeling most people get is that owning an xD makes you a bad person.

Experimentation is good. It helps you understand the boundaries of your marketing message and find new ways to connect with your target audiences. The key to any experiment is to find a way to evaluate the results. AdSymetrix has been created to make that kind of evaluation simple and easy. Just Tag Your Ad and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitors your responses. You'll know what ads are working and what ads are wasting your time.

The Future of Local Reporting?

2007-07-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

If your business thrives on local customers, you need to find ways to talk to them as directly as possible. In some cases, that means finding the radio stations that they listen to, or the television stations that they watch or even the billboards that they pass on their way to and from their homes. One of the most reliable ways to connect with local consumers had been to go through local newspapers. Notice the past tense in that sentence.

As newspapers continue to lose subscribers, that once reliable outlet for connecting with your local customers becomes less reliable. Smaller audiences mean smaller ad prices and smaller returns on ad spends. Newspapers know this and are looking for ways to regain the value of their local relationships. One way is to refocus their energies towards extremely local news.

The Washington Post is doing this with a new online local news site called LoudounExtra.Com. The website hopes that by bringing together "hyperlocal" reporting with online distribution, they'll be able to build a targeted and condensed audience. That audience would then be sold to advertisers looking to build their own customer base.

It's another example of publishers trying anything to grow their business while their audiences shrink. As an advertiser, these new 'hyperlocal' sites may be worthwhile. The best way to know is to use AdSymetrix.

Simply Tag Your Ad and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitors the responses. You'll know whether the hyperlocal news site is an experiment worth your advertising dollar.

When Blogging Becomes Dangerous

2007-07-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

There's a lot to be said for keeping your clients aware of what's going on in your business via blogging. Open companies breed stronger relationships with the people that they work with. The problem comes in when the people blogging say too much.

Look at the latest problems that have hit the CEO of Whole Foods. He was posting inflammatory comments on stock message boards trying to bad mouth a competitor that he eventually succeeded in purchasing. Now the SEC is looking into the matter.

It's important to remember, as you'll find any of these CEOs will tell you, that when you're blogging you're still talking for the company. You can be open and honest and irreverent, but you have to remember that you're still the voice of the company. And every voice counts.

Still, operating blogs to goose traffic to your website or connect with your customers is quickly becoming good business. Nicely, the responses that you generate from your online activities can be tracked and monitored through AdSymetrix.

Simply Tag Your Ads and entries and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. You'll know who's interested in your business and get great feedback about your blog.

How The World's Largest Advertiser Does It

2007-07-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Proctor and Gamble is the world's largest advertiser. It knows a few things about the way that traditional advertising has worked for the last century or so. It also knows that as the audience becomes harder to find and the message more difficult to spread that experiments in new media are going to become more and more important.

That's why, when one of their marketers talks about how P&G utilizes Tech Marketing, it's worth your while to listen.

The crux of the interview is that audiences are more diverse, separated and split up than ever before and that the new opportunities offered by non-traditional media is cheap enough to allow for experimentation.

But with all that experimentation, you need to have a way to know what works and what doesn't. That's where AdSymetrix comes in. Simply Tag Your Ad before you place it with AdSymetrix tracking tools and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your responses. You'll know where your new business is coming from and how you can attract more of it.

With the world of advertising changing, you'll need some help making smart advertising decisions. AdSymetrix is here to help.

Watching You Watching Them

2007-07-05T13:39:00.001-07:00

NBC wants to know what you feel about their programming. Really feel. On a deep, involuntary level. That's why they've set up a panel of people to watch fast forwarded commercials while hooked up to all manners of scientific apparatus.

The hope is that by learning the body's reaction to ads, NBC can find ways to cram more advertising into your world. It's another attempt by television to make up new ways to combat the shrinking viewer audience.

They're not so concerned about the message, as they are the medium. If they can raise the value of an audience, or at least double the viewable inventory of ads, they can maintain their profit levels.

If only they had an easier way to know whether an ad was working.

AdSymetrix is that easier way. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. It's a lot easier than wrapping someone up in sensors and hoping.

With Great Audience Comes Great Responsibility.

2007-07-03T11:19:00.001-07:00

Google's finding itself in a bit of a snit these days. There's a new movie out from documentarian Michael Moore called Sicko. It focuses Mr. Moore's cameras at the health care industry in America. As you could probably expect, the health care industry isn't particularly happy about this new movie. What you probably wouldn't expect is that Google - via their Google Health Advertising Blog - is advocating that they provide a first wave of defense against the potential public uprising by offering ideas about how health care advertisers can utilize Google to supply their own information to anyone searching for Sicko based content. A point of view quickly retracted by the writer of the blog post.

The issue that arises is one of editorial conflict of interest. Any publication can set its own editorial policies, and choose what kind of advertising they'd like to have in their pages. Google's advertising network is agnostic, it cannot push one product over another nor one political ideal over another. Doing so diminishes the value of the network.

We bring it up because it is important for advertisers to know how their ad placement decisions effect the potential responses they get from their ads. It probably is a good idea for health care companies to advertise on searches related to the new movie, but thinking up that idea shouldn't be the job of the advertising network.

When you place an ad you need to know if its working. AdSymetrix is here to help. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. You'll know what ads work and what ads are just wasting your time and money.

Marketing With A Sense Of Humor

2007-07-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

If the web did anything, it brought about a great appreciation of irreverent humor. With sites from The Onion to YouTube using humor to not only present entertainment but also present innovative advertising.

Brand Channel this week showcases how branding and humor go hand in hand. If anything, compelling content gets more attention, and advertising with humor is a way to get people to look at your message.

The important thing to remember is that while it may be hilarious to watch someone fall on their backside, it might not be the best way to get people interested in your product. Work within the limits of your brand and you'll have a better chance of getting not only more people to view your ad, but more people to remember your message.

And of course, when you're driving towards a response, you should have a way to know whether the ad is working. AdSymetrix has been designed to give you the information you need to know about your advertising. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses.

If you'd like to enter our private beta, visit AdSymetrix today.

Advertising in an Adversary World

2007-06-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

As a business owner, you have a good relationship with advertising. For your business, advertising is a key way to get new customers interested in the services you have to sell. The annoyances you deal with are substantial, but they are all aimed towards a worthwhile goal: building your business.

Your potential customers have a different relationship. To them, advertising can be an annoyance. Sure it can give them the answer they need just when they need it, but most of the time advertising gets in the way of whatever they were doing when the ad was noticed.

Plenty of new software has been developed to help the customer avoid advertising. TiVo and ReplayTV were initially created to avoid television commercials. In all, there are new roadblocks being built every day that will make advertising your messages more difficult.

And that's why you need to know what works. AdSymetrix has been developed specifically to give you the information you need to make the best decisions for your advertising plans. Simply Tag Your Ad and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitor the responses. You'll know where your ads work, and where you're money and time is being wasted.

Sign up now and start saving money on your next advertising campaign.

Word of Mouth

2007-06-26T12:53:00.001-07:00

A fever is hitting the Internet this week, all of it focused around Apple's iPhone debut. One of the interesting thing about the amazing reach of this product's launch has been the relatively small amount of effort that Apple's placed in distributing information. From all corners, interested people are doing the heavily lifting for Apple and spreading the word of the new product.

In part, this is due to the perfect storm of the right product coming at just the right time. But the other part has to do with the reputation that Apple's been able to build about itself and its products. And because of that, people are talking.

This kind of word of mouth marketing can be exceptionally helpful. But the key is making sure that the marketing extension remains within your brand. Apple has spent the last few years coming up with ways to make people believe that they are the best company to solve the problem of portable music, that they have the easiest technology for connecting to other people and the Internet and that their products are the prettiest on the market. They could not have released an iPhone ten years ago. It took all this time to straighten out the company and the way they talked to people to get the world ready for Apple to release a product that would get this kind of response.

It is entirely because Apple's made so many people so happy that they've got so many happy people talking about their products.

Getting people talking about your business is a great way to get new customers. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association or WOMMA is a good place to start learning.

In the end you'll have people talking about your business. And AdSymetrix can lend a hand. Track and monitor the responses to referrals with AdSymetrix and learn how your customers are responding to your business.

AdSymetrix is getting ready to launch a new version of our application and website soon. Sign up for our beta now.

Where Is Everyone?

2007-06-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

The good folks at Marketing Charts bring to our attention today a new report that's been released that purports to explain what types of media your potential customers are checking out during the day. The results break down as you'd probably expect, TV and Radio are big winners, Online services are gaining quickly and Newspapers are still holding a (shrinking) audience.

The more interesting bit of information was the relative attention paid to each of these media. While people are happy to have the Television or Radio on in the background, people who use the Internet and other online services pay more attention to not only the content they're looking at but the ads as well. This means, of course, that ads online could be more persuasive in the eyes of potential customers than ads in other media - if only because online people are actually paying attention.

The best way, of course, to determine what kinds of ads work for you is to use AdSymetrix. Simply Tag Your Ad and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitors your responses. It's the easiest way to know how people are finding you, and how you can sell to them.

When You Make Your Own Ads

2007-06-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

We've spent a lot of time over here talking about the ways that mass market publications are trying to react to losing their mass market audiences, but we haven't had much to say about how you can go from yelling in a crowded room to talking face to face.

While AdSymetrix has been designed to help you make better advertising purchasing decisions, it's also been designed to help you make better use of personal connections.

One way that this can work is through the use of fliers, handbills or business cards. AdSymetrix gives you the tools you need to keep track of the responses you get from any of these more personal ways of connecting with potential customers.

Next time you place a print order, Tag Your Ad and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitors the responses. You'll be able to see which business cards are finding the most new customers, what fliers are attracting the most attention and what new ways of connecting with customers are working for your business.

When You Can't Interrupt Them, Join Them

2007-06-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

Nissan is looking at a new way to integrate their marketing message into entertainment, placing their products inside video games. Starting with the launch of the new Forza Motorsport 2 game for XBox, people who buy the game at Circuit City, Best Buy or Game Spot will be able to get a free set of add-ons that allow them to download a tricked out Nissan Sentra into the game.

These kinds of extras again show how advertisers are desperate to get the attention of an audience that may possibly become interested enough to buy their products. The inclusion of marketer-sponsored areas within video games is a logical extension of product placement, albeit one that has some built in measurements.

Placing your products inside someone else's entertainment can be risky. What happens if the car you download always loses, or the game becomes less fun because of your product. The question that has yet to be answered is whether this kind of marketing brings new customers into Nissan dealerships, or whether it's just another game to be played.

When you're looking to do something new with your advertising, bring AdSymetrix along for the ride. AdSymetrix has been developed to give you the information that lets you make better marketing decisions. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your responses. Know what works and what is just wasting your money.

Two More Examples of the Growing Trend

2007-06-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

Today, two stories jump out that show just how much the world of mass media and advertising is changing.

The first, from Wired goes behind the velvet rope and lets you in on the ways that advertising agencies think they can grab on to the MySpace generation, by hiring them. The agencies hope that by grabbing people who use the technology, they'll suddenly be ab;e to better exploit the technology for their clients. While that may be t a sound strategy for learning about a new media, it's not a cure for the problems that they'll face trying to justify their $400/hour jobs.

The other story comes to us via News.com and the New York Times. It seems that now, as audience shares have continued to slip, newspapers are finding that they have to
look at the web as their primary outlet for publishing.

This means that the future of publishing is online, and that means that the future of advertising is online.

To better understand how these futures can help market your business, you should give give AdSymetrix a try. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your
responses. Know what works and what doesn't and make the best marketing decisions for your business.

The Oncoming Rush of Online Advertising

2007-06-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

With Yahoo replacing its CEO today, there's lots of talk about the ways that company makes money.

Arguably, the most important part of Yahoo's business plan is the way that it utilizes online advertising to make their bucks.

Today's Wall Street Journal looks at ways that marketers are using online advertising to hit just the target audiences they want and a fraction of the cost. The shift is important.

Moving from traditional advertising vehicles to more innovative ones allows for greater targeting and more flexible creative messaging. As technology advances, say with a certain pocket phone / computer, the ability to reach people using online means grows far larger than your ability to touch them using traditional mass media. Targeting geographically as well as demographically and psychographically will not only be necessary but made easier by the opportunities presented by online advertising.

And the best way to know what works is to use AdSymetrix. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your responses. Finally you'll know what works and how to make the best buying decisions for your advertising budget.

Sign up now, it's free

The End of Advertising As We Know It!

2007-06-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

OK, so maybe things aren't quite as dreary as the headline says, but as more and more people splinter away from mass-market entertainment advertisers are looking at new ways to get prospective customers' attention.

The Washington Post front's today with a story about how the 30-Second Commercial may not be long for this world. With the advent of TiVo's and other time-shifting devices, not only do audiences no longer need to keep their ears open during bathroom/snack breaks while the commercials are on, but they can pause and fast-forward and miss the messages entirely. Now, advertisers are finding that the highly targeted advertising markets opened by online advertising are showing more potential for generating new business than the shotgun approach that mass-market marketing ever offered.

So without a need for a two and two break and with tighter targeting of audience desires, marketers may soon see the day when viral video surpasses television commercials.

Of course, the best way for you to know when you need to pull the plug on any of your advertising is with the help of AdSymetrix. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your responses, giving you the information you need to make advertising decisions that not only save you money, but generate new business.

AdSymetrix, sign up now, it's free.

Interesting Ideas that Sometimes Work

2007-06-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

There's a weblog out there called 2wenty 4our that showcases interesting and creative advertising campaigns from around the world.

Leafing through the entries you see a lot of edgy stuff, but more generally you see ads that have been made to get attention. They may not always make sense, but the ideas shown in these ads are at least interesting.

The important thing to remember is that most of the very creative concepts shown here are made for very particular audiences and aren't shown to the public. When you have millions to spend on advertising, it's easier to experiment.

Some experiments work better than others. The model walking around with her skirt held up by balloons to showcase Braun's hair removal system increased traffic 25%, but the Cepacol ad just seems creepy.

When it's your business, you don't want to just throw noodles at the wall and wait for things to stick, you want to know that the messages and media you're using are working for you.

That's where AdSymetrix comes in. Simply Tag Your Ad and we'll track and monitor the responses - giving you the real information you'll need to make the best decisions for spending your advertising budget.

Because knowing is better than hoping.

When Bad News Turns Into Good Advertising

2007-06-14T13:01:00.001-07:00

Today, Kellogg's announced that it would either make kid's cereal healthier, or drop its ads. What's it mean?

Well, after years of complaints about the sugary nature of cereal one of the largest makers of that cereal has acquiesced and admitted that the stuff they were selling, and the way they were selling it was not-as-healthy as their marketing would have you expect. That's big. It is a giant step for a company reliant on the misdirection afforded by great advertising to sell their sweetened and toasted corn to a nation of excited children. Kellogg's is saying that their detractors have a point. That their cereal has been marketed in a way that makes kids (and their parents) feel that the food healthier than it is.

But the amazing part of this story isn't that Kellogg has been doing something wrong, it's that they're now going to do something right.

They've been able to flip the script and make their current move to make healthier food and better ads seem noble. They aren't the bad guys looking to surreptitiously make your children less healthy, they're the good guys who realized that something wasn't right and dag-gum-it they're going to make good by their customers. For the children, y'know.

The lesson to be learned is that every motion your company makes has the opportunity to shape the way people think about you. What you do and how you talk about yourself plays into the feelings that your customers (and potential customers) get when they think about doing business with you.

And AdSymetrix can help. Whenever you mention your company, place an ad or hand out a business card, AdSymetrix can show you just how those encounters matter to your bottom line. Simply tag your ad, or in this case, Press Release, and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses.

When to trust, and not to trust an online review

2007-06-13T07:52:00.001-07:00

Salon has a great article today that talks about the reliability of online review websites. Or more specifically, the un-reliability of these sites.

One of the sites that the article looks at is Yelp. Yelp has scared the pants off your local yellow pages company by bringing to the web not only a dynamic way to find local businesses but by adding a social networking component of ratings to listings. The phone company used yellow page directories to give you the ability to make a call, companies like Yelp let you make your connections within the directory.

But the problem the advertiser finds, and the one focused on in today's Salon article, is that the reviews are given the same level of legitimacy as the content of the listing. Meaning that while your store may sell the best chocolate ever made, if someone doesn't like it, they can talk badly about your chocolate to your customers at the point when those customers are making their decision to buy from you.

As with all things online, it's important to keep an eye on the reviews of your business. They will always tell you something about how people are viewing you. And knowing how people view you is just one of the things AdSymetrix does.

AdSymetrix can let you know when someone has contacted you through any listing, any advertisement, anywhere. And knowing how they're finding you helps you find out what they're thinking about you.

Give AdSymetrix a try, sign up - and email and click tracking - are free .

Always Be Closing

2007-06-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sure, it's axiomatic when talking about marketing your business to reflect upon the wisdom of Glengary GlenRoss, but there's a reason.

The idea that every moment of every day you need to continue to promote your business - that you "always be closing" - is central to creating the kinds of connections that translate casual encounters into business opportunities.

On this blog, we've been focusing on howAdSymetrix is a simple and easy way to understand who's looking at your ads and where, but we haven't mentioned how you can also track referrals.

AdSymetrix also lets you track the people who just happen to stop in, or talk to you at the game, or find out about your business through friends. Using AdSymetrix you can track their contacts with your company within our application. You can track who's contacting you through your business cards, or casual conversation or even through your email signatures.

Our goal is to give you the information you need to make better use of your promotional time and money. AdSymetrix gives you the knowledge you need to better understand how people find you, and how you convert them into customers. And the winner of that game gets a whole lot more than a new set of steak knives.

Give AdSymetrix a try. Click and Email tracking is free .

Maybe This Will Work

2007-06-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

NBC has decided that the reason you're fast forwarding through commercials is because they aren't live enough. So, starting this week they've taken another page out of Uncle Miltie's book, and started doing live commericals during the Tonight Show.

The hope, as you're probably well aware by now, is to garner additional audience by offering something more interesting than regular commercial fare. Whether it makes you more inclined to watch, or more importantly buy, whatever is being promoted has yet to be determined.

Ultimately, it's a gimmick. NBC hopes that you'll be intrigued enough by live content to want to pay attention to their advertiser. The advertiser hopes that too.

The only real way to wash away the hope and replace it with results is to understand how your ads are working for you. AdSymetrix makes it easy. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your results. Then you'll know whether the risk of a live ad is worth anything to your business.

Reality Show in Reality an Advertisement

2007-06-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

Just to bring home the point from today's earlier post, Gillette (or now P&G) is sponsoring an new reality show that, as it's executive says, "Really, the show is the ad".

Whether you decide to buy more razorblades because you've seen William Shatner learn to drive NASCAR isn't the point. Just know that the reason this show is on the air is because advertisers need to find new ways to get an audience. And they're going to keep throwing ideas at the wall until something sticks.

You can figure out what of your advertising sticks by using AdSymetrix with your next ad campaign. Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses, telling you how you can save money and make better decisions with your marketing dollar.

Pushing Your Message Everywhere

2007-06-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

In Real Estate, the mantra is "location location location". In marketing the same thing could be said for repetition.

Recognition is but one step towards a sale, but it's an important one. That's why you see multiple locations for individual advertisements from a single organization. The repetition of message increases your ability to recall their services the next time you need something that they can sell.

As the current advertising market continues to splinter in to smaller and smaller groups, advertisers are looking for new ways to bring their message to more people, more often. One way that you're going to see more of is Branded Entertainment.

The idea behind branded entertainment isn't new. In the 1950s, Milton Berle was the biggest thing on television, and his show was called Texaco Star Theater. The brand Texaco taking top billing. Now you're more likely to see actual products showcased inside an episode than merely just the name of the company in the title, but the concept is the same.

Whether this works is still up in the air. Apple's gotten a lot of play out of always supplying Mac's to the good guys in movies and television shows, but their growing market percentage has more to do with their regular ads and innovative products than branded entertainment.

Ultimately, everything comes down to responses. And the best way to know whether your business decisions are the best business decisions is to us AdSymetrix. But you knew that already.

Giveaways that Give Back

2007-06-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

You've seen them before, silly tsochkes, corporate swag, seemingly useless client giveaways that somehow you never seem to throw away.

Giveaways can be a good way to continue your relationship with your customers during the time when they aren't thinking about your products or service.

Two new ideas popped up online recently that deserve a bit of attention, Reactee and QIGO.

Reactee is the more traditional of the two new ideas. Using the online interface, you can create a t-shirt that gives a text messaging address. Anyone who sees the shirt can then send a message to the texting address and make contact with your organization. The idea takes logo-wearing to a whole new level.

QIGO uses a different approach. Their idea is to build off of the Staples Easy Button and give your potential customers USB key chains that when plugged into a computer allows for one button access to any website anywhere.

They're nifty ideas, and a step further out than just slapping your logo on some gift bags.

Nicely, AdSymetrix can help you understand just how effective any of these methods are for bringing new business to your business. The contact information given through both Reactee and QIGO can be Tracked and Monitored through AdSymetrix. Simply Tag Your Ads - in this case, your t-shirts and key chains - and watch as the responses roll in.

Give AdSymetrix a try, sign up is free.

Brand Building - Non-Response Advertising

2007-06-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

Advertising should yield measurable results. Everything else in your life does, from your miles per gallon to the calories in your afternoon snack, why shouldn't your advertising?

For the most part, advertising that includes some sort of 'call to action' on the part of the viewer is great for your business. Place a "Call Now" next to a phone number and you'll be one step closer to actually getting that viewer to call you. And AdSymetrix has been designed specifically to help you understand the relationship between your ads and the responses they generate.

But you can put more in your next advertising campaign than just a giant phone number. You can integrate your call to action with something a bit less tangible, your brand.

It's been a while since we mentioned it here, but Brand Strategy is an important part of your marketing mix. Your company's brand is its personality. It's the thing people think about when they think about your company. Not just how they use your products or services, but how they feel about your business and why they trust you with their money.

One of the smartest people in branding is a guy named David Aaker. Harvard Business Review has made available a pamphlet online that shows how some companies have reached out to their customers in ways that expressed the companies' brands while still getting those all-important responses.

Growing your business is tough work. You need to keep your eye on all the ways that your potential customers see you. AdSymetrix has been designed to help. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. And in one simple to understand webpage you can see just how your advertising is working.

Give it a try, Signup is Free.

What to Worry About When Advertising Online

2007-05-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

As if online advertising weren't difficult enough to deal with on its own, here's a whole new set of worries to contemplate.

Click fraud, Keyword Spamming and False Advertising, or so says this article from Entrepreneur Magazine.

The legal issues surrounding online advertising are still being defined. The more you know about your ads, the more protection you'll have. And alongside the legal questions are the core-business questions of how well your dollars are being spent. That side of the equation is where we come in.

AdSymetrix makes understanding your advertising easy. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your responses. At least that way you'll know where you money is going.

What the Big Boys in Online Advertising are Thinking.

2007-05-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

You buy your music online, you reserve a table for dinner online, you probably even get directions to dinner, why not advertise online?

In the past few weeks, major players in the online advertising field have been gobbled up by even more major players in the online services field. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have absorbed Doubleclick, Right Media and aQuantive respectively.

What's all this mean for the advertiser? The Wall Street Journal sat down for a few answers with David Moore, the chairman and CEO of 24/7 Media, an online advertising company that was itself recently purchased by WPP Group.

While the advertising landscape changes, remember that the best way for you to know how to spend your advertising dollar is to measure the value of every ad you place. And the easiest way to do that measurement is by using AdSymetrix. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses.

We're gearing up for a new beta test right now, stop by and give AdSymetrix a try.

About Our Name

2007-05-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

As we're busily working behind the scenes to build out our next version of AdSymetrix - in preparation for next month's beta test (sign up for it while we're on your mind) - it could be a good time to talk a bit about our name.

AdSymetrix is an interesting word. Its one that we made up to, we hope, convey not only our brand but also our function. In part, we're talking about creating a system to understand the metrics of advertising. Our hope is that by using AdSymetrix, your business will have a better understanding of how your advertising works. You'll know who's visiting your websites, calling your phones and responding to your email messages.

The other part of the name AdSymetrix, has to do with the idea of asymmetrical information. Think about buying an ad in a newspaper. The newspaper knows how much that ad is worth to them based on the amount of space in their pages, the amount of subscribers that they have on any given day and the cost of caring for the sale of the ad. You just know that you need to reach a certain demographic and hope that this location will do the trick.

The newspaper salesperson has more information than you about any space in their paper. They may have a position that typically doesn't sell well, and that may not work as well as some others. That information is kept close to their vest. They don't want you to have any way to determine what locations inside their pages are better than others. This knowledge is an example of asymmetric information. They know more than you about something you're trying to buy.

And that's how AdSymetrix helps. We offer the opportunity to tip the scale in your direction. Using our tools to track and monitor your advertising, you can sit down with the salesperson and know how any position in their publication works. You can hold close to your vest the results of your last advertisements and strike a better deal for any of their properties.

AdSymetrix lets you hold the upper hand when placing your ads, giving you the asymmetrical advantage.

So stop by AdSymetrix and sign up to become a part of our upcoming beta test and know what advertising is best for your business.

Coming Soon, A New AdSymetrix

2007-05-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

We've been working on it for weeks, a new version of AdSymetrix. Still chock full of the easy to use tools you'll need to understand how your advertising works, but now even more powerful and easier to use.

Sign up at AdSymetrix.com to enter our new beta test and see how you can make your advertising work for your business.

Searching for Where They're Searching From

2007-05-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

One of the first places advertisers think to buy ads online is their favorite search engine. And sure, using some of the Search Engine Optimization tools, refining your campaigns to take advantage of searching browsers is very helpful. But when it comes to generating new online leads, the smart business owner needs to do more than just upload a set of meta-tags.

Some online advertisers use company sponsored blogs to generate content that drives hits. Some scour comments pages of other blogs placing their URLs everywhere they can. Some even create 'viral' videos and place them on social networking sites as a way to get a bit more traffic.

AdSymetrix is the tool your business needs to use to determine what works and how your new efforts affect your business. Simply Tag Your Ad or in this case, your original content, and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your responses. That way you're doing more than reading blogs, you're generating business.

When the Media Changes, The Methods Should Too

2007-05-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Advertising world is always evolving. When big photo magazines like Life Magazine ran advertisements, they were full page, text heavy and able to reach a huge audience. Radio and Television changed things further, offering the opportunity for advertisements to bring a new level of activity to marketing. Now, with the advent of interactive advertising online, every millisecond that you can get your message in front of a potential customer counts.

And while audiences everywhere are shrinking, media planners are scrambling to find a way to keep not only their clients happy, but their very jobs.

Instead of fighting the revolution, embrace the new opportunities that are coming. By understanding where your audience is now, what they're most likely to respond to and why they're reacting to your ad, you'll be able to take advantage of any new advertising media that comes your way.

AdSymetrix has been designed to give you just that kind of information. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix Track and Monitor the responses. You'll know the wheres hows and whos of your every advertising. And not worry about whether the next new thing will affect your marketing budget.

The Value of Website Statistics

2007-05-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

Usually, when visiting Download Squad, you're apt to find a link to a new version of a program, or a helpful hint using a piece of your computer you rarely think about, or maybe just something that will kill a few precious productive minutes. But if you've visited the site lately, you may have found this article about the value of web statistics for small business.

In a way, the amazing amount of information that you can retrieve on your website's visitors makes the case for why any business could use AdSymetrix. When someone visits your website, the server can know where they're coming from, what time of day they're visiting, how long they're hanging out at your site, where else they've been recently and how many times they've checked you out. The potential data goes so deep that it's easy to get a bit frustrated with the relatively paltry amount of information you can get from print or broadcast advertisements.

So while you can work to continually focus the message on your website to reflect that perfect equation for converting interested visitors into ongoing sales, what tools can you use to make the best use out of the rest of your marketing portfolio?

AdSymetrix is here to help. Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses to any advertisement you place anywhere. Use our tools to refine and focus your messages so that everything you put out into the world is as action oriented as your website.

Microsoft, Late to The Table, Still Very Hungry

2007-05-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

In the past few weeks, we've watched as Google's eaten up Doubleclick and Yahoo's dined on Right Media, it's only fitting that the other 800 ton gorilla in the tech world look to get a seat at the buffet. Microsoft announced today their deal to purchase aQuantive, a marketing company that not only owns advertising networks, but also creative agencies.

The purchase not only quiets some of the recent talk that Yahoo may merge with Microsoft, but shifts the model that's surrounded most of these deals. Now search engine companies - the new publishers that present advertising to the widest audiences available - are buying more than just advertising networks, their buying creative companies too.

And with large creative companies folding into advertising networks, the ability for your company to make independent decisions about the creative and targeting of your messages may be lessened. The only way to protect that ability is to know as much as you can about what works for your ad campaigns.

AdSymetrix is here to help. Use our system and know who, how and and where your responses are coming from. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses.

So that when you're asked about your next ad buy, you'll know more than where you want to place your ad, you'll know why.

Googling Your Business to the Top

2007-05-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Being smart in the 21st century is less about what you know and more about knowing how to find the information you need.

And thus is the crux of Google's amazing success. They've become the first place many people go to find the information that they need.

Knowing this, you can utilize pieces of the Google toolbox to build interest in your business. Business week starts you down that road with its article, How To Scale Mt. Google. Their idea is that if you learn the Google system, you'll be able to exploit it to your business's benefit.

Experimenting with advertising is important. Trying new things lets you grow and expand your business in new ways. But for every new effort you make, make sure that you have a way to measure that new effort's effectiveness. AdSymetrix has been designed to help you with just that problem. When you've decided on a new way to advertise, Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. You'll get better information and be able to make better decisions.

Branding and Entertainment - A Way To Combat Shrinking Audiences

2007-05-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

It seems to be a common problem: How can advertisers get their messages to an audience that increasingly doesn't want to be bothered with an ad?

Everywhere you look, there's a new solution popping up. I could be through cross cultural education at the hands of a large broadcast network, or it could come in the guise of doctored Diggs or even by way of pay for play Blog entries. The problem keeps showing itself, and it leaves many advertisers cold.

One other way to battle the shrinking audience is to change the way you view advertising. Using entertainment and branding to get people to think of your product when they're involved in something else. You'll see this as product placement in movies and television, or as co-branded games on your cell phone or even as the star of whatever you happen to be watching.

Removing the separation of advertisement and content can be helpful, but the only way to gage the effectiveness of this way of advertising is through the kind of testing that AdSymetrix can provide.

Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. Knowing whether people react to your message is as important as getting that message in front of them in the first place.

Losing Your Audience - And Finding Them Again

2007-05-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

Today's New York Times fronts an article about the various ways advertisers are hoping to keep viewers watching commercials instead of shifting channels or fast forwarding their TiVo's.

Amongst the suggestions are including original programing during commercial breaks and using the cast from whatever show you're watching to present the product advertisement.

In any case, the future of big-broadcast marketing seems fleeting. More and more people are opting out of the commercial l break and instead finding other ways to entertain themselves. As a marketer, your need to entice new potential customers is getting harder and harder.

One way you can battle back against the coming demise is to more clearly target your audiences. Rather than going shotgun and try to reach the widest amount of people, focus on those who are most likely to respond to your ads.

That's where AdSymetrix comes in. Using AdSymetrix, you canTag Your Ad, place it anywhere and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitors the responses. Using that information you can clearly know who, when and where your next new customers are coming from, and how to focus your message to reach them.

Signup is free.

Newspapers Need To Listen

2007-05-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

A slew of articles came out today pointing the finger at print publications for their ways of dealing with the new, new media.

From Macy's yelling about the marketplace to publisher's hiding their heads in the sand about the potential of the new marketplace, the hits come from all sides.

It's in this kind of environment where new directions in marketing matter. And for anyone, advertiser or publisher, to know whether their ads work, an independent observer will be needed.

That's where AdSymetrix comes in. AdSymetrix has been developed to allow advertisers and publishers understand the true value of their advertisements. Simply Tag your Ad, and let AdSymetrix track and monitor its responses. Finally, there's a way for anyone in the advertising world to know what's going on with their messages.

Sign up is free.

Mix Your Own Interactive Ad

2007-05-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

What if you could develop your own interactive advertisements instead of paying a local creative agency? That's the hope of both Google and Tumri.

By gathering a series of templated advertisements into what they're calling AdPods, Tumri is hoping that your next afternoon will be spent creating your own advertisements.

It's not a bad idea, but if you're going to experiment, make sure that you've got some way to measure the value of these new ads. AdSymetrix is the perfect companion product. Tag your new AdPod and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitors the responses generated by the ad. It's the easiest way to determine if this new medium is right for you.

Give AdSymetrix a try, Signup is Free.

The Fun of Social Media

2007-05-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

Recently, BrandWeek fronted a story about how Marketers are warming up to Social Media. The article talks about how the new new medium of social networks - like MySpace, Facebook and Friendster are opening up new means for connecting with potential customers.

There's some validity in exploring this new way of marketing. But if you're going to experiment, at least make sure that you've got a way to measure the effectiveness of the message. AdSymetrix is here to help.

Whenever you're set to try out a new way of reaching your audience, use Tag Your Ad with AdSymetrix and use our online tools to track and monitor your repsonses.

Give us a try, signup is free.

Place the Ad, But Will Anyone Watch?

2007-05-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

Spending a bunch of money making the most creative, most receptive, most entertaining and engaging advertisement and find out that nearly all of your intended audience decide that it's more important to fast forward / skip over/ otherwise ignore your message just to get to the next song, TV show or article can really make you angry.

The New York Times looks at ways that companies are trying to TiVo-proof their advertisements, in a bid to keep advertising relevant.

The story is made all the more interesting when you realize that the company looking to TiVo-proof its ads is in fact TiVo itself.

As an advertiser you need to know that the ads you put out are seen by the people you want to see them. Even better, you would love to know what ads will get those people to actually respond and contact your business.

AdSymetrix is here to help. Tag your ad and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitors the responses that come streaming in from any advertisement anywhere. Sign up is free

Why Networked Ad Sales are Suddenly So Newsworthy

2007-05-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

Business Week nicely explains the reason why companies like Yahoo and Google are doing their best to buy up the online ad sales networks DoubleClick and Right Media -- they want to own the advertising transaction.

Simply put, business is driven by advertising. Yahoo and Google know that if they're going to sell advertising, they should create ways to sell as much advertising as they can. By buying the ad sales networks, they're expanding their inventory exponentially. They may not make as much selling an ad on your site as they would on one of their own, but they're still making something. And that something has immense value to these companies.

And for you, the advertiser that wants to buy ads in various media, you have to find a way to manage your advertising buys as economically as possible. That's where AdSymetrix comes in. Tag Your Ad with AdSymetrix and use our tools to track and monitor your ad, in any media, anywhere.

Stop by and give AdSymetrix a try, sign up is free

Movement in the Online Advertising World

2007-04-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

Two interesting things happened over the last few days in the world of Online Advertising. Yahoo announced that it was buying Right Media, an online advertising marketplace and a Norwegian company launched their FASTMedia product that intends to give newspaper publishers the ability to target online advertisements to user intentions without having to go through a Google-like search engine.

Both of these announcements play in the background of most advertisers' business. They won't mean much to the small business person who wants to buy a placement on a local newspaper website or in a similar publication. But they do signify the bigger issue in the publishing world: how will publishers adapt to the new advertising marketplace.

Creating new ways to sell ads is one way, but properly understanding the value of their ads is another. AdSymetrix has been developed to solve that problem. Using our easy-to-use tools publishers and advertisers can track and monitor any ad, anywhere. They can compare return on ad spend against any medium, and any message.

AdSymetrix gives advertisers and publisher the tools they need to thrive as the advertising world evolves. Why not give it a try? Sign up is free.

Everyone Wants To Know What's On Your Mind

2007-04-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

AdSymetrix has been designed to allow advertisers to know who, how and where their potential customers are when they respond to an ad. Following the response helps the advertiser understand how to connect with the respondent.

This same idea is showing itself in the recent (and upcoming) efforts of search engine giants like Google and Yahoo that plan on using predictive profiling software to bring search results more in line with the intent of the searcher.

Think of it as more focused responses to search questions. By knowing your history, the search engine can more carefully craft your results.

AdSymetrix gives advertisers similar powers, without the questionable privacy invasions. Using out system, advertisers can focus their messages and media buys in ways that help get the interest of specific audiences - and in turn more effectively spend their advertising budgets.

Give AdSymetrix a try, signup is free.

Placing Coupons in their Pocket Phone

2007-04-26T01:01:00.000-07:00

Americans are late to the game of mobile phone advertising. We've only recently jumped on the texting bandwagon. In the United Kingdom, some shops are now utilizing mobile phone based coupons to drive new sales in local businesses.

The benefit of mobile couponing is similar to the benefit of using AdSymetrix: each time a coupon is used, the provider knows who has used it and when. The difference is that AdSymetrix doesn't tie you to a single kind of ad: AdSymetrix can track any ad, anywhere in any medium.

So while we wait for the technology to mature on mobile couponing, why not give AdSymetrix a try, signup is free.

Something to Think About Once You Get Their Attention

2007-04-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

When you write your perfect ad, place it in the right place and begin to get responses, you'd better have taken a bit of time to figure out what to do with your new found attention.

A new campaign going on in the interactive world highlights this need: No More Landing Pages is a website dedicated to reminding corporate website owners to make the most of their potential customers' first impressions.

When you place an ad pointing potential customers to your website, you should make sure you give them information that will help encourage them to work with your business. The No More Landing Pages campaign has been started to remind website owners that the first page should be as important as any other page in their site.

So when you're using AdSymetrix to track and monitor your advertisements you can know that you're giving your potential customers just the right kind of information to make them want to do business with you. Give AdSymetrix a try, signup is free.

MySpace and YourBusiness

2007-04-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Social Network Websites, like MySpace, are great for making friends, connecting with lost colleagues and promoting your new record album. What happens when you try to take advantage of MySpace's huge audience, but lose control of your friends list?

Daytona Beach's Outreach Committee has learned their lesson. Thanks to the open nature of MySpace, some of the friends that were listed on the City site were less than savory. And that's when the controversy erupted.

If you use MySpace, learn from Daytona Beach, and define ways to monitor your friends list. Knowing how your advertising works is as important as knowing what your advertising says.

AdSymetrix has been designed as your tool for knowing how your ads are working. We tie your advertisement to powerful online tracking tools that let you monitor the responses you get from any ad, anywhere. Signup is free.

Should Product Placement Be A Part of Your Advertising Strategy?

2007-04-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ever notice that all the good guys in the movies or on TV always us Apple computers? Or have you noticed that the logo can always be seen on the handset of any telephone used on the air? Don't think that these impressions are by accident. Every time you see a logo on television or in a movie, you're seeing it because a company has agreed to have their logo on screen.

For some, it can direct a new product - like the red Swingline Stapler from Office Space. For others, it can redefine a brand - like the way that The Italian Job introduced (and reintroduced) the Mini Cooper.

Brand Channel looked at the recent release Disturbia and how it takes brand identity into a whole new realm, even using the amount of space on an iPod to define a character.

But what's product placement mean for you? If you are looking to raise the general level of interest in your product or company, it can be helpful. But remember that using product placement is an expensive and risky way of promoting your business.

For the ten seconds your logo may be on screen, you could spend the same amount you would creating an entire direct mail, outdoor or broadcast campaign. A campaign that could not only push your brand, but also give your potential customers a reason to contact you.

AdSymetrix is here to help, in either respect. By comparing the costs and benefits of any advertisement, you can use our tools to determine which medium is best for your business. Give AdSymetrix a try, our signup is free.

Newspapers Need Help Too

2007-04-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

Reuters has a story about Newspapers hoping that their websites will help forestall the shortfall of their advertising revenue in the coming years.

The reality is that the audience for newspapers is becoming so split, and so unfocused that in order to get the same kinds of revenues that built the newspaper giants in the first place, other tactics must be taken.

And AdSymetrix is here to help. In the same way that advertisers can determine the best location for their messages, publishers can pinpoint the value of their available inventory. Finally, a local paper can show a direct comparison between an ad in their publication versus an ad in any other publication.

AdSymetrix gives both publishers and advertisers the tools they need to determine the value of their efforts to get new business. Give AdSymetrix a try, signup is free.

Advertising of Tomorrow

2007-04-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

It may read a bit dry, but this bit of theoretical musing about the current and future state of advertising by Paul McEnany nicely explains the reason why we created AdSymetrix.

Essentially, it says that advertising as we have always known it is done. Finished. Consumers are more sophisticated, demographic groups are more splintered and audiences are smaller and more wide spread. It means that the future of advertising is going to be specifically targeting smaller groups of people with messages that are more likely to grab their attention and place them in a wider array of positions.

And that's where AdSymetrix comes in. As you start to work within this new world of advertising, our tools will help your business qualify the locations, placements, media and messages your using to refine them to their most effective. AdSymetrix lets you know how well any of your ads are performing against any other ad you've placed in any medium anywhere. All within a simple to use dashboard. Give us a try, Signup is free

The Value of Tracking Advertising

2007-04-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

Say you're asked to spend $100 to place an advertisement in a local newsletter. You take the time to put the ad together, submit it to the publication and then wait for a reaction. It's a hundred dollar gamble that the newsletter will find someone that's interested in using your business. But it's also a hundred dollar gamble that you have to work to determine whether you've won.

AdSymetrix takes that hundred dollars you've spent seriously. We have the tools to help you understand the odds. Using AdSymetrix, you can place in that advertisement information specific to that newsletter. You can monitor which new calls, emails or website visits have been created by that ad. You can even determine how much of a return you've gotten on your advertising spend. It just may end up that your hundred dollar gamble brings in a thousand dollar sale.

Give AdSymetrix a try. Signup is free.

Taxes, Advertising and New Business

2007-04-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

This year, thanks to Emancipation Day, Americans have had an extra day to fret and worry about filing their income taxes (or their extension). Inevitably, the fret and worry brings to mind the question of whether you're managing your money in the best ways possible.

When you think about your business, you know you'd like to find ways to attract more customers, more clients or at least more sales, but you may not know the best way to grow.

AdSymetrix believes that we can help. You know that your potential customers need to hear about your company, and we've built an application that can help you determine the best ways to talk to them. You may choose to use a weblog to spread word of mouth or tie your new company into YouTube video series or craft a frustrating alternative reality game to get people interested in your new album, or even hire David Mamet to direct a commercial for your car company , the key is getting results.

Track and monitor your advertising anywhere using AdSymetrix. Our simple to use tools help you understand what advertising works, and what you'll have to figure out how to write-off next year. Signup is free.

AdWords Grows in a DoubleClick

2007-04-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

Google's buying DoubleClick. This is big news in the advertising buying world. It means that Google will have expanded the reach of their advertising reach of their AdWords network and extended the kind of media that they'll use to get your message out.

Google's posted a FAQ about the purchase, including their very telling phrase "We see this acquisition as bringing the worlds of search and display advertising together." DoubleClick is the group behind the banner ads you see when you go to a site, Google is the group behind the microtargeting of AdWords. Put these two together and suddenly you'll find advertising that's more closely targeted to the content on the page.

And how does this effect your business? Well, the continuing consolidation of advertising placement networks could make the process for buying ads more simple, with less contacts and a wider range of placements. It could also mean that the ways that you can advertise may become lessvaried. All in all, this consolidation means that you need to know what works for your business and what kind of advertising you should consider when promoting yourself.

And AdSymetrix has the tools that you need to understand the value of your advertising and where it should be placed. Give it a try, Signup is free.

Yahoo Ad Network

2007-04-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Today's Wall Street Journal has mention of newspaper owners tying in with Yahoo for their online ad sales. This is important to you, in that it possibly signals how print publications and online advertising networks are looking to combine their forces and create new ways for you to buy your advertising spaces.

For the newspapers, it makes sense. They get to offload the costly business of servicing their advertising accounts and continue to make money. For the online advertising networks, the benefit to selling across media comes from the portion of each sale that can go to their bottom lines. They can use Internet-based economies of scale to serve ads to more people for less money.

For the advertiser, it means that you may find your purchases bundled in ways that don't necessarily fit your needs. You may find that in order to get that quarter-page ad in the local paper, you'll have to also buy a weeks worth of banner ads on their website or some other property.

In that vein AdSymetrix has been created to help you understand the value of any of these ads. You'll be able to say to that ad sales person that you know what works, and what doesn't. Give AdSymetrix a try signup is free.

Planning. Why, How, When

2007-04-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

AdSymetrix has been developed to make the process of buying advertising easier by giving you the tools you need to understand the value of any advertisement you place anywhere. But before you go down that road, you may want some helpful advice from your friends at the American Marketing Association where for the low-cost of merely signing up for their newsletters you can read their white paper on Principles of Media Planning and learn a bit more about the process you'll go through in buying ads.

AdSymetrix will be here all along the way to help you test and monitor your ads' responses. Signup is free.

Cross-Media Promotions - Good For TV, What About Your Business?

2007-04-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

Every year, during May Sweeps, the Today Show sends their host Matt Lauer to a handful of strange and wonderful locations and goads the viewing public into caring about his travels.

This year, NBC and various advertisers are hopping on the cross-media bandwagon and utilizing various interactive devices to allow you to play along at home while Matt braves the wilds of wherever he's going.

If you watch this year, you may see how these kinds of campaigns that use various media can create positive results. Impressing upon the potential viewer all the many ways that Matt can be watched could send more people to view Today, and help increase their ratings (and thus the cost they can charge for advertising). The key, at least for today's conversation, is to look at how cross-media promotions could work with your business.

NBC has it easy, they just want you to watch their show. Your business demands a higher level of responsiveness from your interested potential customers. AdSymetrix helps you understand the success of your advertising campaigns by giving you the tools you need to monitor the responses you get from any ad in any medium. From website to telephone pole, you're able to know who, when and where your audience is responding to your ad. And from that you can learn how to best connect with your customers.

Give AdSymetrix a try, Signup is free.

Viacom and Yahoo - Making the Advertising World a big Smaller

2007-04-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

News today that Viacom and Yahoo have become best friends - working together to sell advertising to viewers and users of online properties.

This continues both Yahoo's competition with Google and Viacom's uneasy relationship with YouTube. The deal means that Yahoo will service and sell ads on many Viacom properties and that the advertisers who want to play in Viacom's court will have one less contact.

Consolidation seems to be rampant these days in the media buying world. That means that advertisers will be forced to add lower-performing properties to their portfolio to get the best prices for future ad buys. The only way to defend against these so-called deals is to know the value of every ad you place. And AdSymetrix is here to help you determine that value. Give us a try, Sign up is free.

Viral Advertising Leaves Many Sniffling

2007-04-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

Viral marketing is subtle. You may not know you've been infected with the message. Maybe it's a USB drive left in the bathroom at a concert in order to promote an upcoming record, or a fake video diary created to sell advertising space, but it's out there and sometimes it works.

Sometimes. Viral marketing is effective like brand marketing is effective: you get a portion of your audience to feel a certain way about your product and wait to see how it impacts your overall business performance.

One way to ensure that your viral efforts are justified is to use AdSymetrix. Our easy to use tools make the complex task of measuring and monitoring any advertisement simple. Give us a try, signup is free.

When What's Good for Consumers is Frustrating for Advertisers

2007-04-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

iBiquity is a company that's developed a way to send digital signals through radio frequencies used by regular radio stations to provide radio listeners with multiple channel streams of music. People who have HD Radio can receive these channels alongside the analog radio signals that you can hear today over any regular radio.

It's a plus for radio listeners - or at least the radio listeners that rev up the proper equipment to receive the HD broadcasts - in that they can now hear more radio programming from more sources than ever before. But for advertisers, in particular the ones who use radio as their media of choice, it make the marketing environment more confusing than ever.

With more channels and a finite amount of listeners, the ability to reach the widest audience is lessened. Meaning that while you won't pay as much for one ad, you'll have to place more ads just to reach the same number of people.

And perhaps that's why AdSymetrix is so helpful. You can use our powerful tracking tools to learn how to best get the audience that's listening to respond to you messages. Give us a try, signup is free

Advertisers on Advertising

2007-04-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

What you need, to really boil your blood, is a peek at what Advertising professionals think about the future of advertising. Follow along as the good folks at BusinessWeek show you what these mavens of marketing think where the next step will lead.

And when you're done, pop on by AdSymetrix, where regardless of how you choose to market your company, you can do it more effectively through the use of our measurement tools. Know how and who's responding to your messages, all through the magic of AdSymetrix, where signup is free.

A Great Developer

2007-04-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

Just a big of housekeeping here, but nonetheless important. AdSymetrix has had its share of developers during its short life, helping to bring to life our vision of a company that can help small business advertisers gain control over their advertising methods. Recently, AdSymetrix has had the good fortune to work with a new developer / design team, Team Bees that has consistently blown us away. They have taken big ideas and helped shape them into workable web applications - under budget and on time.

If you're in the need of top notch web development at very good prices from exceptionally talented people, give Team Bees a call. They're a great team to have on your side.

And while you're at it, stop by AdSymetrix and give us a try too. Signup is free and within minutes you'll be able to know how your ads are getting noticed.

Doubleclick - Doubledating

2007-04-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

Consolidation seems to be inevitable in the world of advertising. If smaller firms aren't swallowed up by larger firms, then larger portfolio companies (like Omnicom) purchase big ad agencies and make giant corporate entities.

In the case of your business, some consolidation is happening too. Microsoft and Google are both going after ad server and network Doubleclick. A purchase makes sense, as Google already owns the large AdSense/AdWords network and Microsoft wants in on the market. For each company, the reach of Doubleclick's network is a big draw. For your business it means that working with online advertisers may become more streamlined, but also more expensive.

However it all falls out, AdSymetrix will be here to help you understand the value of any ad placed in any network. Because it's one thing to know where your ads are going, it's something else to know whether they should be there in the first place.

Targeting Video Downloaders Dynamically

2007-04-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

A new service by YouMe
Networks allows advertisers to place their advertisements
directly in the stream of downloaded video files automatically - using
the customer's personal preferences to focus the targeted message and
provide to them just the kind of ad that the advertiser wants them to
see.

This dynamic placement of advertising is similar to the
ads provided by Google through their
AdSense network: matching ads with content for the viewer to enjoy (or
ignore).

Whether this system is worthwhile is questionable. When
you're downloading a file do you want to see a commercial before you
see your ad? How do you feel about the message you're forced to watch?
Does it change your potential for responding to the ad?

All of these questions are worth asking. And AdSymetrix
is a tool you can use to find the answers. We'll help you figure out the best
kinds of ads for your business, all after your freesignup.

New Bar Codes Can Talk With Your Cellphone

2007-04-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Today's New York Times fronts with the interesting idea of using your customer's cellphones to bring your message to their pockets.

The idea is that Codes displayed in public places - on billboards, in magazines, on telephone poles - are photographed by cell phone users using their camera phones and are then translated by a program on the cell phone into some kind of advertising or informational message.

It's another one of those great technology ideas that seems a bit ahead of the curve. You want to make sure that your message is not only being presented to your audience, but also that the audience is able to react to it.

And reaction is what AdSymetrix is all about. Our simple to use dashboard brings you up to the moment response information for all your advertising in any media. Try it this weekend, signup is free

Good Press is Better.

2007-03-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

The old saying that bad press is better than no press at all is wrong.
Sure you can get a bit of attention by doing nearly anything, but if
you're trying to make your business grow, you should do what you can to
make sure that the attention you're getting builds your brand as well
as passes your name.

The last thing you want to do is end up the
target of some kind of consumer report investigation like the kind
found at href=http://www.consumerist.com>Consumerist. Visiting this
website, you'll be given hundreds of object lessons as to just how much
more important good news is than bad.

Staying on the right
side of your customers is valuable. Knowing how they're finding you is
valuable too. The more you know about their experiences with your
business, the more you'll be able to communicate with them about why
they should work with your business. And knowing how your advertising
works for them is a big first step.

AdSymetrix is here for you. Learn how your customers are reacting to your advertising.

Measuring Marketing Effectiveness

2007-03-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

When you think about Brands, even without knowing it, you're thinking about the work of David A. Aaker.

He wrote the book on brand strategy, explaining many of the ideas that describe how to convey the personality of your organization through any medium to your customers.

Currently, he's the chairman of Prophet a brand consultancy that helps companies understand who they are and how they can pass that understanding along to their customers.

While your budget may not allow a Prophet makeover, they helpfully offer some interesting views of the effectiveness of marketing that come in the easy to afford price of Free.

Seven Surmountable Hurdles to Marketing Effectiveness is a new article by one of the senior partners at Prophet that talks directly to the value of AdSymetrix. Wnen you know more about the use of your advertising, you know more about the value of your advertsing. And AdSymetrix gives you the tools to value your advertising.

Give AdSymetrix a try. Signup is free.

Don't Call It Pointcasting!

2007-03-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

For those who remember the first set of internet booms in the late '90s, Pointcast was a business built on sending information to individual users via screen saver. The company used 'push technology' to place their data on your computer screen. Conceptually, it was a good idea. Push the information most relevant to your audience directly to your audience, then follow that information with ads that were equally well targeted.

The problem was that Pointcast wasted network resources, causing many big firms to ban its use at the same time that people were realizing that they could pull their own information easier than they could with the help of Pointcast's application.

But that idea - of putting in front of your audience the information that's most relevant to them, and focusing your advertising - is still worthwhile. Today, you'll find stories about marketers targeting smaller ethnic groups and how going after your audience's sense of humor can help build your business. This kind of targeting - based either on demographic (the kind of people your audience is made from) or psychographic (the way your audience views the world) targeting is Narrowcasting. And it's good business.

You can decide that a particular group is your best bet for a particular message, then you can register you ad with AdSymetrix and watch as that message creates responses. It's a great way to build ties within smaller, more receptive audience groups.

Give AdSymetrix a try, signup is free.

Forget Television - Think Smell-a-Vision

2007-03-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

href=http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/04/01/8403354/index.htm?postversion=2007032606>Gas
Pumps that Smell Like Coffee
from business 2.0

Customer
service is as much a part of your sales process as advertising. In the
case of some companies, like href=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117495610529249749.html?mod=djemMM>ABT Electronics the care and concern given to your customers can become more of a differentiator than price. For others a victory is just keeping the stink of your product off their customer's clothes.

And
from that, we get this news about coffee scented gasoline. Perhaps
customers will care less about sky-high prices if the gallons they buy
smell better.

Or perhaps some customer service ideas are just wastes of money.

Not all new ideas are good, but in advertising, there's at least a way to value them. AdSymetrix. Signup
now and see how you can best spend your advertising budget to get new
customers. And hopefully not trick them into thinking your gasoline
comes from the mountains ofJamaica.

On Madison Avenue, A Wake Up Call

2007-03-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

href=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117486500542148458.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace>On
Madison Avenue, A Digital Wake Up Call
from wall street journal
some assembly required

Nike's recently decided that their decades long advertising partnership with Weiden
+ Kennedy deserved a second look. It seems that with so many people
using various interactive means to examine, explore, discuss and learn
about new products, Nike wasn't sitting as far atop the heap online as
they do in more traditional advertising venues. This led towards the
surprising move of placing the partnership between the company and its
advertising agency.

New markets create new methods for
reaching new customers. Nike's looking for help getting the online only
crowd to think about their products. Their path takes them into new
creative that they hope will bring new sales of their shoes, shirts and
stuff.

When you're thinking about how you're going to approach
your new customers, you can keep this in mind: regardless of the new
market, the new method or the new medium, you still need to know how
your new customers are responding to your messages.

AdSymetrix
is here for just that reason. We've designed an online service that
allows you to accurately track all the responses from any advertising
message in any medium. Sign
up now and try our system with your next ad. It's easier than
finding a new agency.

Your Pockets as the New Billboards

2007-03-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

Marketers Have Eyes on the 'Third Screen'
from news.com
and new york times

Forget television, print, outdoor. The new thing in advertising is your pocket. Or more specifically, the phone you keep in your pocket.

New studies are showing that the untapped potential of your pocket is getting noticed. Ads targeted via mobile phones, along with ads in video games are the near to becoming the destination of choice for a very specific type of advertiser.

The value of these ads, despite the fresh spotlight they're receiving, has yet to be determined. If only everyone would use AdSymetrix. That way any ad, any where would be easily tracked and monitored and more importantly valued.

Before you choose to advertise with any thing (new or otherwise) check out AdSymetrix. Signup is Free

When Angry Customers Shout

2007-03-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

A New Force in Advertising - Protest by Email
from wall street journal
some assembly required

If you're upset about the service you get at a restaurant, you may choose not to leave a tip. If you're disappointed by the cut of a shirt, you'll most likely return it to the store. But if you're disgusted by some unethical, amoral or somehow otherwise distasteful action of a business, you may want to start an incendiary email campaign.

And if you're a business on the other end of that kind of campaign, you're in for some trouble.

Not only would you get hit because of whatever you did, but due to the way that the internet works, even after you've appologized you can still be held accountable for whatever terrible thing you've done.

The Wall Street Journal looks at the problems caused by these kinds of issues and the ways that advertisers can limit their exposure.

But with all of that your business needs to have as much control over its message as possible. One way to know who's seeing what is by using AdSymetrix. Our tracking tools give you incredible precision in understanding who is responding to which of your ads. And the more you know about how you're being perceived, the more responsive you can be to your customer's needs.

Bringing Advertising Into The Show

2007-03-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

ABC is looking backwards in an attempt to look forward.

This week, the network is looking at ways to blur the line between advertising and television programing. The hope is that by integrating advertising - or at least by finding new ways to integrate - they'll be able to command high prices from advertisers hoping to reap the rewards of having so many people watching their messages at the same time.

The problem, as any TiVo owner will shout, is that viewers don't watch television for the commercials, but for the program. As technology advances, the ability for the user to get just what they want from their hours on the couch means that commercials are losing viewers in huge numbers.

The solution, at least one of them, is to look back at the way television was when it first started: blatently commercial. Rather than have many sponsors for each individual show, you'd have the Texaco Star Theater where Milton Berle brought vaudeville to the masses. Whether this means that What About Jim will become an ongoing commercial for anti-depresents is unclear. More likely you'll see storylines that include products and companies, similar to the way that The Office and Staples have become so inseparable lately.

Of course, the question for advertisers is whether this is worthwhile. AdSymetrix is positioned to help answer that question. Signup with AdSymetrix and see how your ads are working. Why wait for ABC's meetings to end, sign up now, it's free.

Pay-Per-Action : Google's New Idea for AdSense

2007-03-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

Google's focus on extending their advertising network is taking another step forward with the introduction of their Pay-Per-Action AdSense functionality.

Simply put, the new service allows advertisers to define how they'll pay for their advertisement based on the actions taken by people who are responding to the ads. If you're looking to get people to sign up for advertising tracking service, or a newsletter or purchase a particular product, the advertiser won't pay unless that action has been taken.

The Pay-Per-Action model is one familiar to anyone who's played in the world of Affiliate marketing. Where you pay another site or sales person a cut of the proceeds when a sale is made. Tying this to AdSense, however, brings the barrier for entry to affiliate sales much lower.

Pay-Per-Click most likely will not work for every business or campaign, but it does bring accountability to advertising. A concept that we at AdSymetrix have placed at the center of our service. The more you, as an advertiser, know about the value of your advertising, the better decisions you can make in placing your next campaign. And knowing is just one free signup away.

Overly Targeted Advertising

2007-03-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

BMW Mini made some news a few weeks back with their ad campaign that
put
the name of Mini Cooper drivers on billboards as they passed the
ad. While discovering your name on a billboard while driving
home from work may be fun, what would you think if you saw personal
information about you spread across MySpace, mall kiosks and movie screens?

AdRants
points to a new campaign for Wilkes
University
that brings href="http://staging.160over90.com/wilkes/adcampaign/WilkesAdCampaignSummary.pdf">micro-targeting
your message to a whole new level. Using information from
accepted students, Wilkes University placed that
information in ads across their entire media buy. The idea
would be to get the students who are weighing their decision to go to
Wilkes to see the kinds of people they'll meet once they decide to go
there.

But this kind of micro targeting seems off somehow.
Sure, you show how today's college student has no privacy and that they
are relegated to little more than bullet points in the eyes of the
administration, but is that really the message you want to put out to
the rest of the potential incoming class?

New ideas are great.
Creative advertising is fantastic. But at some point you have to make
sure that your big idea and your brilliant creative are still pointing
your potential customer to your business.

AdSymetrix
is here to help. By knowing how your ads are generating responses, you
can focus your messages and
media buys in ways that connect with your customer. Tracking
and monitoring responses in ways that fuel your business. Or college.

Try AdSymetrix with your next campaign. Signup is free.

Advertising That Glows in the Dark

2007-03-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

How do you get anyone to care about realtor advertising? Some Remax folks in Atlanta think that the best way to get people interested in their services is to make their ads glow in the dark.

Hi-Tech ads, (or pranks) may seem like a good idea, but the trick isn't just to get someone to see your ad, it's to get them to act on it.

Knowing how people react to your advertising is the most important part of succeeding in advertising. AdSymetrix has been created to help you understand how people react, so that you can make your advertising dollar work for you, and not just generate press releases

The Quest for the Perfect Online Ad

2007-03-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Quest for the Perfect Online Ad
from business 2.0

Welcome to the future, where intellegent advertising servers present your message to potential customers just when they are most likely to react to it.

Or almost the future. This article talks about how the next phase of advertising is about bringing the most relevant information to the most receptive audience. That's done through testing, through evaluation and through monitoring the effectiveness of both the advertising message and the advertising medium.

AdSymetrix has been designed to help with that testing, evaluation and monitoring. Using AdSymetrix you can track every ad you place anywhere and know who, how and when people are responding to your messages. Our belief is that the more you know about how people are finding you the better you can go and find them.

Give AdSymetrix a try, signup is free.

Google Buys Adscape

2007-03-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Google Buys Adscape
from san jose mercury news

Google just wants to give you the opportunity to touch everyone, anywhere. Their announced purchase of Adscape allows them to place advertisements inside video games. In a connected world, the ability to place ads based on both the game and the gamer.

Whether that type of ad works is, as always, up in the air. But that's why AdSymetrix is around.

AdSymetrix helps advertisers learn the value of their placements. And signup is free.

Why Advertising Fails

2007-03-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Christopher M. Knight (no, not that one) runs a website that explains all you need to know about just about anything, 7 Reasons at a time. One of his lists is about his Top 7 Reasons Advertising Fails and despite the gimmick, the advise is worth reading.

Consumers don't have much time to think or care about anyone else's problems, including your products and services. To grab them you need advertising that drives to your goals. And you need to know that the advertising you're using is placed where your audience is most likely to react.

Too often the need for new business gets in the way of effective advertising. That's why you see commercials on the Super Bowl or flyers littering telephone polls. Those approaches may be seen by the people who are most likely to respond, but there's no guarantee.

AdSymetrix has been developed to help your business find the most relevant ways to reach your potential customers. Using AdSymetrix you can finally know how to keep your ads from failing.

Try AdSymetrix, sign up is free.

Mobile Advertising - A Good Idea, Soon

2007-03-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Everywhere you go, you're followed by everyone you know, thanks to the little telepone in your pocket. Until a few decades ago, you could go to the bank without having to answer a question about how the copier works back at the office. But now, while we can use cell phones to give us directions, check our email, listen to our music and still have conversations, the advertising industry is gearing up to place their messages in your pocket. And while there are some interesting ideas here, their effectiveness is unknown.

Take the latest news from News Corp, the parent company of Fox News, that they've partnered with Third Screen Media to provide advertisements throughout Fox properties to present to Fox viewers. As a publisher, the hope stands that by creating a new venue for advertisements, they'll make more money. But what about the advertiser?

MIT's Technology Review explains another way of using cell phones to market your company - "augmenting reality". This concept from Nokia says that you should be able to point your phone's camera at any location and get an advertisments explaining just why you should walk into that location and part with some of your hard earned money.

Again, these are good ideas from a publisher standpoint, and fascinating ideas from a technologists standpoint, but from the advertiser, there's a giant question mark. How do you know whether the new-new-thing is the ever-so-slightly-right-thing for your business?

One way is to measure and track the effectiveness of any advetisment you place. And that is why AdSymetrix was created. We think that your business is too important to be left to chance.

Give AdSymetrix a try.

The Benefits of Advertising Tracking to Exceptionally Large Advertisers (and how it can work for you)

2007-03-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article 'Measured
Media' Lose in Spending Cuts that shows just how important
understanding the value of each advertisement placed is to the bottom
line of any business.

According to the article, while the ad
spending market in the United States increased last year by 4%, the top
50 advertisers cut their spending on TV, Print and Internet ads by
1.5%. What do all of those ads have in common? They are ads featured in
media that has spent a good deal of time defining their audience. The
non-measured areas of the advertising marketplace continue to grow, if
only because the measured areas are showing that their potential
audience is shrinking.

These large businesses - think Proctor and Gamble,
GM, Disney - are finding that because data shows that the audience is
moving away from television, newspapers and banner ads that their
advertisements need to move as well. The problem though, is that the
ads themselves are still just as unverifiable in measured environments
as they are in unmeasured environments.

That's where information
can sneak up behind you and bite your business in its comfort zone:
Chasing audience is the shotgun approach. Hoping that by going after
anyone between the ages of 18 and 35 you'll get enough of a response to
justify youradvertising budget is chancy. Instead, if the ads presented
to any audience can be independently tracked and monitored, the
advertiser can choose more targeted media, and create more compelling
messages.

The big guys are halfway there. They realized that the
ads they were putting out weren't as effective as they'd like. Their
mistake was not in looking for the growing audience, but in looking for
the kind of audience that would respond to their ads.

If only they stopped by AdSymetrix. They'd be able to track every ad they place and know the best ways to reach their customers.

Ad Revenues for Yellow Pages, Local Search Expected to Register Healthy Growth

2007-03-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

Ad Revenue for Yellow Pages, Local Search Expected to Register Healthy Growth
from b to b

As fewer and fewer people subscribe to newspapers, as more and more viewers use TiVo to skip commercials and as iPods replace radios in cars, the advertising industry is looking for surprising growth in local, relevant messaging.

Yellow Pages have spent a century training people to let their fingers do the walking to find shops and services. As publishers, they've spent a century training advertisers to lock in to year long advertising programs that may or may not yield success.

The Kelsey Group report says that local search engines and print publications will experience growth. That growth is due to the relationship between the audience and the advertiser. By focusing on the people who can do business with you every day, the people looking to do business with you respond to your advertisements.

But, this is speculation. One way to prove these theories is to track and measure your advertising effectiveness. Compare various local advertising venues against themselves with real-time response data. After that, you'll be able to determine the best location for your message.

Luckily, you've got AdSymetrix to give the information you need to make better advertising decisions.

Google Testing Targeted Cable Ads

2007-03-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Google Testing Targeted Cable Ads
from paid content

While you may think of Google as the first place to go when you're tying to get information on any subject you could imagine, Google is acting as a giant advertising network determined to find ways to get more valuable ads in front of potential customers.

The news this weekend that they are now trial-testing a way to target cable television ads (in the same way they are looking to target print ads) coupled with the recently discovered patent for a Google Phone that gives you search results before you even ask for them, brings to bear the value of knowing where you customers are and how to communicate with them.

As you look at your media plan, how you're buying advertising, and what kind of marketing your business is doing, it's important to remember that focusing on the right customer is as important as creating the right advertisement. AdSymetrix helps.

Using AdSymetrix you can determine the best locations, media and messages to reach just the right audience.

Give AdSymetrix a try, sign up is free and you can begin learning more about your advertising (and your customers) right away.

Why Leave Advertising Responses Up To "May"?

2007-03-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

MediaPost discusses an AdSpace report that tries to push the old adage that "If you show it, they may buy it." May is a distressing word. It means that you don't know whether your advertising is effective, just that the money you've spent so far to produce and place the ad might lead to some kind of response, somewhere down the line.

As AdSpace is in the business of selling advertising space in shopping malls, they have a reason to publish this report. They state that 17% of female mall shoppers and 10% of male mall shoppers made a purchase at the mall based on an ad shown on one of AdSpace's displays.

Which is great, if you're a business in a mall and can make an impulse sale. Most businesses, aren't in that position. A tax preparer looking for new clients, a restaurant trying to expand its base or a realtor hoping to get interest on a new property all need to use different advertising to get results. And that's where AdSymetrix can help.

With AdSymetrix you don't need to have your most responsive ad placed right out side your door. You can use our tools to gauge the effectiveness of any ad, placed anywhere. Generating response is the reason for advertising. AdSymetrix helps figure out the best ways to get those responses.

Duct Tape Marketing: What Gets Measured, Gets Converted, Gets Results

2007-03-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

What Gets Measured, Gets Converted, Gets Results
from duct tape marketing
A great post that goes to the very core of why we created AdSymetrix. The more you understand about your advertising, the more carefully you can target your potential customer and the more readily you'll get results.

AdSymetrix makes measuring and tracking advertising easy.
1. Register your ad with AdSymetrix
2. Place your ad anywhere - online or off
3. Track your ad and know what ads work best

The results will help you find the best ways to reach new potential customers.

Shooting in the Dark

2007-02-28T05:56:00.000-08:00

Forrester steps up with this new report, discussed at eMarketer.com, showing just how immeasurable the advertising market has become. Or always has been.

The report shows that while it is understood that businesses need advertising, measurements of return on investment in advertising have been difficult to review. As the article starts out "Q: What is the ROI of Advertising, A: Stop advertising and find out"

Stong stuff. Further, we find out that 21% of those polled would reccomend their ad agency for assistance in marketing their product or services; 76% couldn't get ROI information from their agencies and 69% thought ROI was too difficult to ascertain.

Instead of waiting for a report from their agencies, they could use AdSymetrix and know how any ad they place generates responses.

We have to agree that current methods for determining ROI are complicated. That's why we created AdSymetrix, to help the business advertiser know how to best spend their advertising budgets.

Sign up, It's Free

Google Extends Video AdSense Service

2007-02-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

Paid Content posts an interesting wrap up of a report on Google's extension into video advertising through their AdSense program.

The article talks about how Google Video will incorporate - or allow the incorporation of - advertising in Google video presented content. This can allow Google to place video ads on websites that relate to the videos shown. It's worth watching as the biggest player in the online world starts to incorporate television style advertising on websites within their networks.

AdSymetrix tools will be useful in figuring out just how effective these ads are for the businesses that choose them.

Pushing the Industry to Learn How to Count

2007-02-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

Pushing the Industry to Learn How To Count
from new york times

Someone, somewhere came up the the idea that even outdoor advertising needed to be accountable for its audience. Luckily, somebody else came up with a way for the advertiser to hold them accountable as well.