Monday, July 26, 2010

With Kindle, the Best Sellers Don't Need to Sell

The New York Times article With Kindle, the Best Sellers Don’t Need to Sell by Motoko Rich discusses the promotional aspect of giving away free downloads of digital books. While this may sound like a contradictory idea, giving books away to make money, publishers have found that giving away one book can lead to increased sales of that author’s other titles. Some publishing companies are insisting that books are not given away at all because it devalues the meaning and work that goes in to writing a book. Other publishing companies have problems with the price of a digital book being only $9.99 when a typical paperback is $13 and an average hardcover $25. Publishers are definitely concerned about the shift from paper books to digital but some are more willing to make changes then others.

Samhain Publishing is a good example of a company that is able to turn free digital book downloads in to profits. By offering a free download of a romance novel by author Lauren Dane, sales of her older titles skyrocketed in the same month. This shows how giving away a digital copy of one book can lead to substantial sales in the long run.

Though e-books still only represent about 5 percent of the total book market, they are still a very important item for publishers to keep an eye on. Digital book and e-reader sales are on the rise; books may soon be a thing of the past. One initially hesitant author in the article mentions that you can “be afraid of what is coming or try and aggressively embrace it in some form.”

Amazon announced last week that since June’s Kindle price cut from $259 to $189 sales have been increasing of both the reader and e-books according to an article from Reuters. The purpose of this price cut was to ward off competition from Barnes and Nobles Nook and Apple’s iPad. Bad news for publishers who want to stay in paper, Amazon also announced that over the past three months it sold 143 e-books for every 100 hardcover books. Also, Amazon claims that they have sold three times as many digital books in the first half of 2010 compared to the first half of 2009.

Overall publishers will need to find new and different ways to promote book sales both on paper and digitally. The introduction of digital books and e-readers has revolutionized the way people read. Jeff Bezos has changed not only the bookstore, but also the book. So far Amazon has been a major winner in the digital reader market, but there is still a significant opportunity for authors and publishers alike to make new profits from a new breed of book reading consumer.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

iAd: Apple's Newest Revolutionary Creation

The article from the San Francisco Chronicle tells the story of one grateful iPhone app developer, Jason Ting. Apple’s newest creation, called iAd, starting rolling out at the beginning of this month. According to Apple, iAd gives brands what they’ve been waiting for: access to the global audience of iPhone and iPod touch users, enhanced targeting, premium creative, and robust measurement (http://advertising.apple.com/). Apple says that iAd reaches millions of iPhone and iPod touch users around the world, which is a highly desirable demographic for advertisers. Advertisers can now reach users within their favorite apps and with the iAd network, companies gain access to “the most engaged mobile audience out there” (http://advertising.apple.com).

According to Apple, iPhone and iPod touch users:
Have downloaded more than five billion applications
Spend, on average, 30 minutes per day using their apps
Set trends and share with family and friends

It is easy to see why such a program might seem highly profitable and valuable to both companies and developers. This is precisely what Jason Ting realized when his use of iAd brought him significant early returns. San Diego-based Ting boasts making $1,400 in iAd revenue in only the first day. Ting started selling his app on July 7th ; the app turns the LED camera flash on the iPhone 4 into a flashlight. The free version of the app is supported by iAds and had 9,000 downloads on its first day. The downloading frenzy helped LED flashlight for iPhone 4 (the title of the app) reach the number 8 spot on the free utilities page of the App Store, quite and impressive feat.

Here is a screen shot detailing Ting’s iAd revenue:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2010/07/08/businessinsider-iphone-developer-brags-1400-in-iad-revenue-in-one-day-at-150-ecpm-2010-7.DTL#ixzz0tU77ivyX


This shows that the ads brought in $1372.20 in iAd revenue on 9,300 impressions on its first day. The click through rate was an astonishing 11.8%. The effective cost per 1,000 impressions (eCPM) was $147.55 which is approximately 50 to 100 times greater than the eCPM that some mobile ads bring in.

According to the article, Ting was very surprised with the numbers he received in the first day and he hopes they will continue. Unfortunately this is not very likely. He may experience high rates for a little while, but probably not forever. Right now, iAds are novel and as a result people are more likely to click on them to see what they are all about. Despite the fad, it was still a great day for one lucky developer and great press for Apple.

The introduction of iAds into the world of marketing is very significant. This is a new platform for advertisers to target and reach some of their best customers. iAds will work similarly to Google ads because they will give relevant information to customers within the app making them more likely to be interested and click. Advertising is not totally new to the world of mobile phones, but iAds offers developers rich media ad creation and a new way to reach consumers who they might normally miss.

The use of iAds is also important because it has the potential to offer marketers a new way of advertising digitally with significant click-through rates. Since most consumers are now desensitized to internet banner ads and pop ups, this is a way for advertisers to peak consumer interests in a new way. Also, the iAds are specifically geared toward consumer interests so they will be even more likely to click in comparison to a likely irrelevant banner ad on a website.

Overall, Apple has done it again with the introduction of iAds. The use of easy to use and easy to navigate advertisements within consumer downloaded apps is a refreshing new format of reaching consumers which is sure to change the way people do internet advertising and marketing. By injecting relevant ads into consumer content, advertisers will reap the rewards of higher click-through rates and developers will enjoy the benefits of increased ad click revenue, just like Jason Ting.

A sample of the iAd for the Nissan Leaf can be found at the following site:
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/01/apples-iads-slowly-begin-to-appear-led-by-nissan-leaf/

Article location: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2010/07/08/businessinsider-iphone-developer-brags-1400-in-iad-revenue-in-one-day-at-150-ecpm-2010-7.DTL#ixzz0tU77ivyX

For more e-marketingclass articles visit http://e-marketingclass.blogspot.com/

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Antkeg Remi

First post to attempt to win the Antkeg Remi first place google battle.