LBi and bigmouthmedia release Innovation in Retail white paper

Mon, 23 May 2011 14:03:05 GMT

Global digital marketing and technology agency LBi and its media arm bigmouthmedia today released a joint white paper on digital innovation in the retail sector.

The document analyses how the touchable web and the trends towards a multi-device, multi-channel future are fast becoming an opportunity for retail brands to engage and reward consumers with deep and positive retail and marketing experiences. At the same time, it looks into the blurring edges of the online and offline environments and the opportunities presented by consumers expecting to interact with brands and make purchase decisions spontaneously, wherever they are, whenever they want.

The white paper, authored by digital experts across both LBi and its media arm bigmouthmedia, draws in knowledge of these wider technology trends and explains their impact and how they can be harnessed to develop brand and retail loyalty. Areas under the microscope include new technology in retail, mobile retailing, integrated marketing, display technologies, CRM and social customer service, affiliate marketing, multi-channel user experiences and creative social media.

Phil Gripton, MD of LBi and bigmouthmedia, said: “The document covers what we see as areas with major growth potential in the retail sector. We believe that these new trends will provide savvy retailers with new avenues to expand their businesses, and we have the high calibre experts to help them unleash the opportunities that come their way.”

The white paper can be downloaded from http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/signup/.

About bigmouthmedia:
Bigmouthmedia is a digital marketing company developing truly integrated digital advertising campaigns across a blend of digital platforms with ROI at the core. Setting the pace in search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, display, social media, usability and analytics, bigmouthmedia has been delivering tangible online business growth solutions on a client-focussed, local, European and global level across 56 countries in over 30 languages since 1997.

In August 2010 bigmouthmedia merged with LBi to create Europe's largest marketing and technology agency. The new LBi/bigmouthmedia agency combines LBi's best in class digital media, marketing, communications, design, branding and technology services with bigmouthmedia's leading search engine marketing product portfolio and digital media expertise.

Bigmouthmedia and Econsultancy unveil Social Media and Online PR Report 2010

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:19:18 GMT

Bigmouthmedia and Econsultancy's Social Media and Online PR Report 2010 has revealed that although investment is set to rise next year, Britain's businesses are failing to make the cultural and budgetary commitments required to maximise the channel's potential.

The research reveals that 73% of companies currently spend more resources on social media than they did last year, with the vast majority expressing confidence that budgets will increase again in 2011. However with 76% of the companies surveyed admitting they didn’t have an ROI figure for most of the money invested in the channel and more than two thirds acknowledging a need to improve their social media techniques, it seems clear that UK business' use of the medium is far from perfect.

"While the sector has matured over the course of the last 12 months, there is still massive room for improvement. Broadly speaking companies and their agencies remain self-critical about their social media tactics, with most acknowledging that they need to improve their approaches to the channel across the board," said David Hardy, Group marketing director at bigmouthmedia.

Now in its second year, the Social Media and Online PR Report shows that despite 83% of companies expecting social media spending to increase over the next year, the actual amount being spent remains very modest in real terms. With more than 28% not spending anything on social media marketing and a further 33% claiming to invest less than £5,000 a year, 29% of companies report not having in-house staff dedicated to this discipline.

For many of those surveyed, this lack of investment is damaging. Around half of responding companies (49%) say that lack of resources is a major barrier to success, and 30% say lack of budget is a significant issue.

Another issue which has become apparent this year is the difficulty many companies are having integrating activities relating to social media with other parts of their business including sales, PR, CRM, product & services development, human resources and customer services. Despite the proven benefits of running integrated, cross platform campaigns, while the majority of responding companies are now coordinating social media activity with email marketing and search engine optimisation only 7% of companies integrate their social media channel with their television advertising.

"Clearly businesses need to take a long hard look at their existing corporate culture and think about how it can be evolved to incorporate the benefits of social media, but there are encouraging signs that this process is already underway. The report shows that with 41% of executive management now more interested in social media issues than other marketing issues it has captured leadership attention, and this will be a key factor in its continued commercial development," added Hardy.

Econsultancy research director Linus Gregoriadis said: "2010 has been a year in which companies have tried to become more focused in their social media marketing activity. Much of their activity is concentrated on the use of Twitter and Facebook, with the vast majority of companies (83% and 80% of respondents respectively) using these sites as part of their social media strategy.

"Companies are harnessing these sites for a range of business functions including marketing, sales, customer service and product development and newer areas such as location-based marketing and social gaming are now being hyped in the media, although the data shows that very few companies have so far actually become involved."

Both the Econsultancy report and the bigmmouthmedia report are now available online.

About bigmouthmedia
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bigmouthmedia reveals most UK brands don't understand the value of mobile visitors

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:59:11 GMT

A bigmouthmedia survey has revealed that more than three quarters of the UK's big brands do not understand the value of a visitor via mobile compared to other digital channels.

The research, which polled the views of key decision makers at a raft of leading UK companies, shows that despite a significant 89.2% of respondents sharing the belief that mobile marketing will become increasingly important over the next 12 months, very few have fully embraced the channel. Reflecting the uncertainty with which many businesses regard the emerging the field, 70.3% of those surveyed currently don't have any engagement with mobile marketing at all.

"We are at a critical point in the evolution of mobile marketing. A growing group of organisations are starting to derive competitive advantage from their early mover status in the channel, yet the vast majority of companies have yet to gauge the impact it is likely to have on their business," said Simon Heyes, Head of International Sales Operations at Bigmouthmedia.

"There are no benefits to be derived from being slow on the uptake. With the mobile channel set to become increasingly influential over the next few years, companies need to move now, engage with the medium and start building the campaigns that are going to keep them ahead of the game."

Despite an apparent lack of engagement with the channel the research revealed a keen awareness of the potential advantages, with 75.7% of respondents citing increased brand awareness as the main benefit of undertaking mobile marketing, and 67.6% believing increased customer engagement to also be a major benefit. Over 60% also believed that increased traffic, leads and sales were also a major driver.

Bigmouthmedia's survey - conducted amongst a large group of large and medium sized enterprises - showed that just 5.4% companies describe themselves as being "heavily involved" in mobile marketing at the current time. Another statistic to emerge is that while they considered the channel increasingly influential, 75% of the respondents claimed not to know the relative value of a visitor from mobile compared to other channels.

"What is clear from our research is that while the vast majority of businesses accept that mobile is going to become a critical part of the marketing mix, there is a great deal of uncertainty over how to approach the channel, and in particular how to get buy in from the wider organisation. Companies know they need to get on board the mobile bandwagon, but a lack of clear understanding is holding many back from exploiting its potential," said Heyes.

Another recent forecast from Morgan Stanley found that at the rate its usage is accelerating, mobile internet use will overtake desktop internet use by 2015.

“In many ways the UK is behind many other markets when it comes to mobile adoption, with territories like Japan, the Philippines and Thailand already using mobile internet services much more than their European counterparts. In many organisations mobile has taken a back seat because the focus is still on mainstream digital strategy, but British companies can't afford to make the same mistakes they did with the social media revolution, which commerce has only just got to grips with after three long years. This time, the winners will be those who are quickest off the mark," added Heyes.

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff located across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: Bigmouthmedia analysts believe that an evolving search landscape, the continued rise of social media and advances in mobile technology will combine to make the next year one of the most eventful in the sector's history. With these and other factors blurring the boundaries between PR, marketing and customer care, the company also predicts that the shape of the search business itself will begin to change.

"Digital marketing has always been a dynamic industry, but the introduction of real time search, the continued convergence of devices and the apparently unstoppable rise of social media have all come together at the same time, and we expect this to have a major impact upon the search landscape in 2010," said Andrew Girdwood, bigmouthmedia's Head of Search.

"The industry has matured, and already we are seeing some of the more prehistoric SEO business models out there beginning to fail. Major clients increasingly require partners with international scale, and as the downwards pressure on costs continues, small-scale agencies are going to struggle to cope in what is likely to become an environment dominated by a handful of major players."

Bigmouthmedia's sector-by-sector predictions for the year ahead indicate that the digital marketing business could be facing one of the most challenging years in its history.

Retailers are expected to continue investing in social media strategies designed to monetise direct marketing channels like Twitter and Facebook while simultaneously expanding their mobile marketing activities.

In the travel business, operators seeking to offset a fall in revenues caused by the global recession will increasingly look online. Some 57% of travel marketing budgets will be spent online in 2010, while the majority of companies are also predicted to increase spend on Social Media & Online PR and Search engine optimisation as they attempt to come to terms with this evolving channel.

In the world of finance, the advent of the widely predicted new supermarket banking services look set to dominate the sector's year. A scramble has already begun, meanwhile, to win over the significant increase in consumers expected to return online and begin shopping for services again in 2010.

"The search marketing business has weathered the economic downturn better than most, but there is no room for complacency. For every one of the opportunities these new developments bring there are technical and logistical challenges to be overcome," said Girdwood.

2010: The Year Ahead in Digital Marketing is available for download from bigmouthmedia

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff located across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: Search engine optimisation (SEO), PPC, Online Media Planning, affiliate marketing, Social Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics. Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily digital marketing news to ensure clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

Bigmouthmedia appoints Mark Bole as Group CEO

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:14:33 GMT

Bigmouthmedia has announced the appointment of former Nokia Vice President Mark Bole as Group Chief Executive Officer.

Bole joins Europe's largest independent digital marketing agency with a wealth of high-level experience in the technology sector. An accomplished senior executive with a track record of running successful pan-global operations, he will take over the day-to-day management of bigmouthmedia's offices in Europe and the US as the company embarks upon the next stage of its development.

"I am delighted to be joining bigmouthmedia at such a pivotal moment in its development. It has a fantastic brand, a gilt-edged client list and is uniquely positioned to gain competitive advantage in an exploding sector, so I'm very much looking forward to being part of the next stage in the company's growth," said Bole.

Bole has 20 years experience working with dynamic, fast growth companies. He spent 12 years at Nokia in a variety of roles across the mobile giant's European and Far Eastern operations before ultimately rising to the position of Vice President. After leaving the company in 2001 he served as President and COO of the telecommunications software company Incomit prior to its acquisition by BEA systems in 2005 and most recently was Chief Executive Officer of mobile social media services provider ShoZu.

"The search for a new Group CEO has been intensive, and I believe that in Mark Bole we have picked a winner. He has held roles at a very senior level with several technology heavyweights, and has coal-face experience of running complex multi-territory European organisations as well as mergers, acquisitions and the challenges these events can throw up. He is supremely well qualified for the position" said Steve Leach, Executive Chairman at bigmouthmedia.

The announcement will see Leach - who founded bigmouthmedia from an Edinburgh basement in 1997 and turned it into a multinational company operating in ten countries and 30 languages - transition to an executive chairman position directing group strategy.

"My initial vision was to make bigmouthmedia the biggest brand in search and I think we've done pretty well on that front, but now this agency is ready for a new, even greater future. While my time as CEO has been both enjoyable and demanding, I believe the company will benefit from a fresh perspective, and am taking on a new role to allow that to happen," said Leach.

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest and most experienced digital marketing agency and was rated the UK's #1 Search agency for search engine optimisation and PPC in the 2009 NMA Marketing Services Guide.

Bigmouthmedia's 200+ online marketing experts across 12 international offices maximise online brand exposure for its clients by means of integrated digital strategies incorporating SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Display Advertising, Online PR and Copywriting.

Bigmouthmedia's multilingual digital solutions deliver outstanding ROI for over 300 world leading brands including British Airways, Tesco, ebay, Sky, Cisco, BT, Comic Relief, Barclaycard and Europcar.

Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily digital marketing news

Brookson selects bigmouthmedia to lead SEO strategy

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:47:34 GMT

Online accountancy firm Brookson has appointed bigmouthmedia to handle its search marketing activity.

A leading provider of accountancy, tax advice and support services, Brookson selected bigmouthmedia following an extensive search to identify the ideal partner to lead its digital marketing strategy. An established innovator in the sector, the move comes as the award-winning consultancy moves to establish its Navigator Money Manager portal as the UK's preeminent suite of online financial tools.

"As a company we have been going through a revolution in recent times. We have fundamentally changed our business model and are going direct to market as we look to continue the company's expansion, so clearly search engine optimisation is a critical part of that strategy," said Martin Hesketh, Managing Director at Brookson.

"Together with its status as an industry leader, bigmouthmedia's unrivalled experience in helping brands make the most of their online activity made the agency the only logical choice for the job."

Founded in 1995, Brookson was recently shortlisted as a finalist in this year's Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) awards for 'Innovation of the Year'. The company's 150-strong accountancy service now manages the financial affairs of over 9,000 customers, freelance contractors and individuals who work in business for themselves.

Brookson's Navigator Money Manager portal underpins Brookson's claim to offer one of the most innovative contractor accountant services available on the UK market. Allowing clients to access their business financial information 24/7, the system has been designed to helps customers run their businesses more effectively by providing up to date financial information at their finger tips.

Currently, ninety nine per cent of Brookson's customers used the online tool to complete their last year-end accounts and each week the online portal records an average of 4500 unique visits.

"We're delighted to be welcoming Brookson as a client. The company's focus on innovation and invention is one that we share at bigmouthmedia, and this promises to be both an exciting and challenging campaign," said Phil Acton, Head of Business Development at bigmouthmedia.

About Brookson:
Brookson is a leading provider of accountancy, tax advice and support services to freelance contractors and self employed professionals who work in business for themselves. Brookson supports people in their chosen way of working through its limited company, sole trader and umbrella company services. As a 150 strong accountancy service, managing the affairs of over 9000 customers, Brookson is committed to offer the very best service, support and advice.

About bigmouthmedia:
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff located across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: Search engine optimisation, PPC, Online Media Planning, affiliate marketing, Social Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics. Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily digital marketing news to ensure clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

Bigmouthmedia welcomes Google's 'game-changing' Adsense announcement

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:15:13 GMT

Bigmouthmedia has responded to Google's decision to open up its Adsense system to third party networks by stating that if successful, the move will change the shape of the online display advertising industry forever.

Under the terms of the policy change, advertising networks that have traditionally focused activity on big brand sites will now have access to Google's extensive network of blogs, forums and websites. Opening up a potential new revenue stream for thousands of site operators worldwide, the move underlines the search giant's determination to extend its reach beyond text advertising and into the world of display.

"This is an event that should make all intelligent publishers and advertisers think hard about their activities. Google is clearly determined to make a serious impact upon the display sector and if this move works, their dominance over online advertising will be extended," said Lyndsay Menzies, Chief Operations Officer at bigmouthmedia.

"Traditional ad buyers will face a new world if Google manage to make this work. They’ll be looking at an environment where site owners can block entire networks if they don’t perform or can block specific advertisers. Display will be less about big deals and negotiating with decision makers and will become much more like search marketing in terms of its scientific and performance led nature."

Welcoming Google’s insistence that only networks that meet their privacy, speed and quality guidelines will be included in the expanded AdSense, bigmouthmedia believes that the move will require significant changes to the thought process behind a display campaign. Micro-management will become more important as individual publishers are given the opportunity to opt out of entire ad networks or ban ads from certain sites.

Europe's largest independent digital marketing agency also notes that the move will be seen as bad news not only for the third-party networks which Google will not qualify, but also for any third-party bid management platform that fails to integrate with the extended system.

"This is a very interesting move which will work if the thousands of AdSense publishers out there support the move. If there’s enough demand from the AdSense publisher community then ad networks will certainly not want to pass on the opportunity,” said Andrew Girdwood, Bigmouthmedia's Head of Search.

"If Google get enough extra volume of image ads through this then, as a publisher, why wouldn’t you simply install the AdSense code and let everyone engage in a bidding war to display on your site? There'll be no need to pay third parties to strike deals with you, and that will mean a significant increase in revenues for existing advertising platforms."

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest and most experienced digital marketing agency and was rated the UK's #1 Search agency for Search Engine Optimisation and PPC in the 2009 NMA Marketing Services Guide.

Bigmouthmedia's 200+ online marketing experts across 12 international offices maximise online brand exposure for our clients by means of integrated digital strategies incorporating SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate marketing, Display Advertising, Online PR and Copywriting.

Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily online PR from traditional agencies.

"The PR industry is certainly beginning to come to terms with online PR and social media, no doubt motivated by the proven benefits of digital campaigns, but it is less clear whether the sector fully understands the discipline. It is not simply a case of replicating your offline press releases on the web, but requires specialist expertise and an informed understanding of how people engage with news, brands and products on the web," said Leanne Rinning, Online PR Manager at bigmouthmedia.

"Online PR has to be viewed as part of your overall online marketing mix. It is most effective and more measurable when dovetailed with your SEO, PPC and display activity."

The survey also reveals that the number of agencies publishing blogs has doubled in the last year. Despite widespread recognition of the value and importance of blogging as a media tool, however, a surprising 78% are still failing to produce their own.

Some 60% of the agencies surveyed admitted that they have yet to include online PR as part of their service offering. However, only 45% of the operations that claimed to have new media covered actually published their own blogs.

Taken as a whole, only 22% of UK PR consultancies currently use blogs to communicate with clients, colleagues and the wider marketplace.

London outfits appear to have maintained their lead in embracing the expanding field. A clear 48% of the firms surveyed who were from the capital offer online PR, with 30% publishing their own blogs.

Companies from elsewhere in the UK fared much worse in the research, with only 32% offering online PR and just 14% publishing their own blogs.

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff located across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: Search engine optimisation, PPC, Online Media Planning, affiliate marketing, Social Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics. Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily digital marketing news to ensure clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

For further media information please contact
Iain Bruce
Media Strategist
bigmouthmedia
51 Timberbush
Edinburgh
EH6 6QH
(44) 131 555 4848
http://twitter.com/bigmouth_aff

Bigmouthmedia responds to European attack on digital marketing

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:30:16 GMT

Bigmouthmedia has warned that a proposed European legal move to regulate the use of cookies could have a profound negative impact upon the some of the world's biggest businesses.

In a move that threatens affiliate marketing, bid management and web analytics, proposed amendments to the 2002 European Communities Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications would mean that in future, websites would only be able to place cookies on visitors' computers if they give their express consent.

"This is a proposal that would strike at the very heart of what the digital economy is all about. The ability to measure, track and improve the site experience for visitors is key to the success of e-commerce, and given the potentially damaging effect this could have on a multi-billion pound business channel, suggests legislators don't quite appreciate the havoc they could cause," said Andrew Girdwood, Head of Search at bigmouthmedia.

"This isn't really a privacy issue. More often than not, cookies only contain data to measure the success of keywords or affiliates. We support attempts to raise awareness of privacy issues and provide internet users with more control but believe these functions would be better provided by the browser than the website. This would give users even greater flexibility and more consistency."

Many areas of the digital marketing business could be seriously affected if the proposed legislative changes come into effect, with big names from Amazon to Google likely to be hit. Services dependent on using user data to track sales such as affiliate marketing would suffer significantly, while pay-per-click advertising services would be forced to ask permission to place a cookie every time a user attempted to follow a link.

If the amendments go through, commercial web sites may be forced to run multi million pound search campaigns without having a detailed understanding of how well the strategy is performing. Most modern forms of web analytics, meanwhile, would also be threatened by the European proposal.

The experience of visiting commercial websites could also be badly affected. Sites may be forced to display a pop-up message - commonly associated with invasive advertising - in order to seek the visitor's permission before any tracking could be used. Over all, the loss in transactions combined with the cost of implementation would stretch to many millions of Euros in lost revenue each month for online retailers, travel and finance sites.

Full details of the proposed legislative change and its possible ramifications are available through bigmouthmedia's digital news service.

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest and most experienced digital marketing agency and was rated the UK’s #1 Search agency for SEO and PPC in the 2009 NMA Marketing Services Guide.

Bigmouthmedia’s 200+ online marketing experts across 12 international offices maximise online brand exposure by means of integrated digital strategies incorporating SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Display Advertising, Online PR and Copywriting.

Bigmouthmedia’s multilingual digital solutions deliver outstanding ROI for over 300 world leading brands including British Airways, Tesco, Sky, Cisco, BT, Comic Relief, Barclaycard and Europcar.