Annual survey from bigmouthmedia reveals key insights and trends in affiliate marketing

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:32:50 GMT

Global digital marketing company bigmouthmedia has announced the results of its annual affiliate marketing survey. Titled 'Exploring Online Affiliate Marketing Trends', the survey of UK based affiliates took in the views and opinions of a number of affiliate marketers to reveal insights on how this market is performing and indicates key technology and operational trends on where it is going.

In particular the survey analyses and identifies key insights in to the relationships between affiliate marketers and agencies, the impact of Google (as an affiliate) and Google's Panda algorithm, how affiliate networks have fared over the past 12 months, threats and opportunities and trends in taking a multi-sector approach with an ever increasing digital toolkit - especially social media.

Fiona Robertson, head of performance marketing at bigmouthmedia said: "The affiliate market in many ways is the bedrock of e-commerce. Our survey is an important tool for listening to the space and making it aware of the trends and opportunities.

Fiona, who is speaking at this year's A4U Expo in London, added: "What is really interesting is how affiliates have continued to adapt over the last year to embrace new areas such as mobile and location based opportunity and ever growing techniques such as social media. The overall picture is a vibrant UK affiliate industry which continues to innovate and grow."

Key insights include:
- Google: 71.5% of respondents believe that Google has designs on becoming the largest affiliate compared to 56% in 2010. 31.4% of respondents have seen Google Panda as having an impact on their business.

- Affiliate networks: Digital Window remains the most popular network, followed by Tradedoubler and Commission Junction, with 57.97% of survey respondents picking it as their first choice in 2011.

- Commission attribution: 50.8% believe that modelling threatens the affiliate industry. This figure is up from 34% in 2010 showing a significant increase and evidence of genuine concern within the affiliate community.

- Channels: 32.6% of respondents see opportunities in mobile marketing. Video advertising is still seen as an opportunity by 13.3% of respondents (down from 15.2% in 2010). The biggest growth is in location-based marketing which has leapt up 12.4% to 40.7% since 2010.

- The digital mix: SEO and content marketing remain the most popular at 63.2% but social media has leapt from zero in 2010 to 27.2% in 2011. Moreover, affiliates are increasingly adopting a blended approach with 40% opting for combining two or three different methods to reach their audiences and 28% using four or more.

Andrew Girdwood, Media Innovations Director at bigmouthmedia said; "Marketers can learn a lot from affiliates. They're often quicker to test and learn than large brands or clumsy 'build first, think about the media later' agencies. This report reveals a whole bunch of interesting insights from those digital natives who feast or fast based on their marketing successes."

Interested parties can download the full executive summary and results here: http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/downloads/files/LBi_bigmouthmedia_AffiliateSurveyReport2011.pdf. An infographic of the results can be found here: http://images.bigmouthmedia.com/bmm/bmm-affiliate-survey-2011-infographic.jpg.

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About LBi and bigmouthmedia:
LBi is a global marketing and technology agency, expert at blending strategic, creative, media and technical expertise to build business value. It helps companies of all shapes and sizes decide what's next for their business - and then it takes them there. Along with its media arm bigmouthmedia, LBi defines and executes transformational digital strategies for clients including BT, Coca-Cola E.ON, Lloyds TSB, Play.com, SAB Miller, Skype, Standard Life and British Airways. Across its 24 offices in 16 countries, there are more than 1,800 digital specialists collaborating with brands to enrich people's lives via service design, branded content, mobile, CRM and social media. LBi also sets the pace in digital display, search engine optimisation, PPC, usability and web analytics.

Bigmouthmedia Launches 2011 Affiliates Survey

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:52:34 GMT

Bigmouthmedia, the global digital marketing company, has launched its second annual Affiliate Survey, designed to identify the key issues and emerging trends in the affiliate industry today.

The research aims to gather trusted information about the affiliates' views on the latest developments and emerging challenges within the sector. Bigmouthmedia, part of LBi, the world's leading marketing and technology agency, is inviting affiliates to share their opinions on a series of issues ranging from networks and tracking technologies to the use of creative tools and advertising exchanges.

"Last year's survey provided invaluable industry insight direct from the affiliates themselves, and we hope to gain an excellent level of responses again this year," said Fiona Robertson, Head of Performance Marketing at bigmouthmedia. "The results will be launched right before the A4U Expo, so we hope we’ll be able to provide the industry with some exciting talking points in the run up to the event."

The survey includes questions such as: Is commission attribution modelling threatening the affiliate industry? Are there too few affiliate networks in the UK? Do networks in the UK have a problem with low quality or fraudulent traffic? And does Google want to become the world's largest affiliate?

The survey is open to all affiliates until 5pm on the 2nd September. Responses from networks, agencies and merchants are not being sought after for this survey. Participants will receive a free copy of the report, highlighting all the key findings from the survey, as well as the chance to win an iPad2.

Affiliates can participate in the survey by visiting http://goo.gl/YQMVZ

- ENDS -

There are many things that make LBi unique, but if the company had to choose one it would be its ability to bring together diverse teams of experts to suit any brief. The company calls this blending, and it's the reason why all types of organisations - from famous global businesses to disruptive start-ups - choose LBi to help make their brands desirable wherever, whenever and however people choose to engage with them.

Bigmouthmedia steps up to SEO campaign for Wallis

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:55:11 GMT

Global digital marketing company bigmouthmedia has announced that it has won the contract to implement an ongoing SEO campaign for online and high street women's fashion retailer Wallis. The contract will see bigmouthmedia build on Wallis's substantial online customer base by significantly growing the firm's search engine performance around its tens of thousands of products, specific product launches, promotions and seasonal sales.

The project draws on bigmouthmedia's strong retail expertise, which was recently on display when the agency published its "Innovations in Retail" white paper, which is still available from its site. Bigmouthmedia's extensive retail clients list includes SEO campaigns for other Arcadia Group brands such as Topman, Topshop, Burton, and Dorothy Perkins. The present project will also see the agency leverage its digital and technology expertise, particularly its command of optimising on enterprise retail solution WebSphere.

Beverley Imrie, head of ECommerce at Wallis / Arcadia group said: "We pride ourselves on understanding our customers in particular how and where they like to shop. Online forms a huge part of this picture and so it is essential that SEO holds a central role in our digital marketing strategy. Bigmouthmedia has a proven track record in the retail sector and has shown that it really understands our needs from day-to-day account management right up to being able to respond quickly to strategic and technological refinements."

Phil Gripton, MD at bigmouthmedia said: "This is a significant win for bigmouthmedia, not least because Wallis is one of the UK's most established retail fashion brands and fits neatly with our existing retail portfolio. We are looking forward to delivering on our commitment to service and quality by providing Wallis's customers with every opportunity to engage with them as a brand."

Across its 24 offices in 16 countries, there are more than 1,800 digital specialists collaborating with brands to enrich people's lives via service design, branded content, mobile, CRM and social media. LBi also sets the pace in digital display, search, affiliate marketing, usability and web analytics.

There are many things that make LBi unique, but the main one is LBi's ability to bring together diverse teams of experts to suit any brief. LBi call this blending, and it's the reason why all types of organisations – from famous global businesses to disruptive start-ups – choose LBi to help make their brands desirable wherever, whenever and however people choose to engage with them.

Bigmouthmedia shortlisted for the highly respected a4u Awards 2011

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:16:16 GMT

Digital marketing company bigmouthmedia has been shortlisted by judges for the award of Best Agency in recognition of the innovative and dynamic approach taken to campaigns by the Performance Marketing team on behalf of clients.

Nomination in such a highly competitive category in the a4u Awards 2011, alongside industry heavyweights including 7thingsmedia, Arena Quantum and Stream 20, is sound acknowledgment of bigmouthmedia's position at the forefront of performance marketing. Bigmouthmedia's performance marketing team delivers for its clients successful campaigns integrated across a full range of digital media platforms, offering truly innovative marketing strategies further enhanced by accountability and cross channel transparent methodologies.

Fiona Robertson, head of performance marketing, is thrilled to be shortlisted by the a4u Awards in light of the body's respected position within the industry."It's an achievement to be nominated alongside such stiff competition, a real testament to the growing strengths and successes of the team's work. We believe we've developed a unique methodology when it comes to the management and delivery of performance marketing campaigns and I'm delighted that our hard work has been recognised by the judges of the a4u Awards. We're thoroughly looking forward to the announcement of the winners, and we've got our fingers crossed", Robertson explained.

The strict criteria set out for the category of Best Agency indicated that only the strongest candidates within the industry would be shortlisted for the award. Bigmouthmedia's successful nomination illustrates its capabilities in combining innovative cross digital marketing techniques with transparent and effective multi channel communication between both affiliate networks and clients to reach predetermined targets and ultimately meeting the clients' objectives.

Robin Richmond, director of Media Clients, added: "A nomination for Best Agency in the a4u Awards 2011 is great news. The team work hard to remain at the forefront of their sector and deliver exceptional campaigns for our clients, and I'm delighted to hear that this hard work is being recognised. I'm certain this nomination will encourage the team to further develop their service offering and continue to deliver innovative campaigns on behalf of our clients."

After what is certain to be lengthy deliberation and discussion, the winners of the a4u Awards 2011 will be announced at the awards ceremony on 17th May 2011.

ENDS

In August 2010 bigmouthmedia merged with LBi to create Europe's largest marketing and technology agency. The new combined 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 urges brands to scrutinise digital marketing campaigns in light of new rules

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 11:24:01 GMT

Bigmouthmedia has published a white paper responding to the recent regulatory changes and industry concerns surrounding the Advertising Standards Authority’s expansion into the digital sector.

The white paper, which focuses upon the key elements of commonplace digital marketing techniques now set to come under increased scrutiny, urges brands to reassess their current online strategies in the light of the new rules. With judgements and the implementation of specific regulations over a raft of standard tactics likely to be decided by a committee of experts over the next year, remaining compliant with the extended rules will be a key issue facing marketers in the months ahead.

"The ASA's move to expand its regulation of the digital marketing industry is one of the most significant challenges facing us in 2011. Although there has already been some speculation as to what exactly this will mean the details of campaign techniques will be key, and we’ve produced a comprehensive paper to provide insight into the expanded CAP code. We'd encourage all brands to closely monitor a developing situation which could have profound implications for the entire sector," said Lyndsay Menzies, CEO of bigmouthmedia.

With its importance being supported by the UK government, the expanded Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) code will address every element of a brand’s online activity to ensure that taste, decency and fair competition is upheld across the full range of digital platforms. Bigmouthmedia’s document illustrates those digital marketing strategies likely to come under scrutiny in the coming months, discussing areas which will require particular attention and offering insight and advice.

Having been in regular communication with the regulatory body during the months leading up to the legislative changes, bigmouthmedia has gained useful insight into the implications which the expanded CAP code will have on the sector, passing this on to brands and marketers alike in the recent publication.

Owing to the fact that the regulations are to be complaints-led, it is those marketing communications which directly involve the consumer which will be the most widely open to scrutiny. Under the expanded rules competitive claims made by brands, quoted prices and limited availability must be disclosed, substantiated and be able to be verified.

Similarly, content will play a fundamental role in the new CAP code, whether it is content generated by the brand and delivered across social media or other digital platforms, or user generated content adopted by the brand and published. All content promoted by a particular brand will be open to scrutiny and must be considered.

Andrew Girdwood, Media Innovations Director at bigmouthmedia added: “The willingness of the regulatory body to discuss the new remit with us in such detail has been very helpful. We’re particularly pleased we’ve been able to encourage wider discussions on the implications of the CAP code; between the committee and the IAB’s Affiliate Council for example. We appreciate this is just the beginning and we will be staying close to the subject.”

The document in full can be viewed at www.bigmouthmedia.com or at Scribd.

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 optimisation, 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 combined 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.

ENDS

Bigmouthmedia expands analytics services with Nedstat professional accreditation

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:05:37 GMT

Bigmouthmedia has expanded the range of analytics services on offer to clients after announcing that the agency has been awarded global professional accreditation status by Nedstat.

Underlining bigmouthmedia’s expertise in web analytics, two members of its team recently passed Nedstat’s prestigious Sitestat professional exam qualifications. The accreditation, which will allow the agency to work as a Sitestat Authorized Partner, represents the latest step in the company’s strategy to expand and diversify the range of services on offer to clients.

“This is a significant move forward in terms of our ability to provide clients with a wide set of tools and web analytics services. While we will continue to offer qualified expertise in the use of Google Analytics to track and measure the success of brands’ online marketing campaigns, Sitestat accreditation allows us to deliver the analytics package best suited to each client’s objectives,” said Head of Media Services Susana Inarejos.

Nedstat is a leading provider of web analytics and innovative solutions for online business optimisation. Recently acquired by comScore, the company is developing its education resources to include more advanced analytics training programmes utilising the application of comScore’s demographic specific data. Users of the web analytics tool Sitestat focus on online business optimisation, segmenting and targeting techniques and how to apply these to improve results of campaign applications and other optimisation tools.

Setting the standard in web analytics services alongside dedication to delivering results, bigmouthmedia’s growing Analytics Services team achieved global professional accreditation by Nedstat after passing an intensive training course at the company’s Amsterdam headquarters. The agency meanwhile maintains its status as a Google Analytics partner in both the UK and Germany.

Offering clients a wide range of web analytics packages is quickly becoming an integral part of any global marketing campaign as brands increasingly demand a measurable marketing campaign which delivers maximum ROI. Bigmouthmedia and LBi are the only UK companies which are both Google Analytics and Nedstat accredited, enabling a diverse and complex offering of web analytics packages.

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 combined 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 wins Best Digital Agency award at Spanish Ecomm Awards 2011

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 10:17:07 GMT

International digital marketing agency bigmouthmedia has been named Best Digital Agency at this year’s Ecomm Awards. Widely recognised as one of the most important of the e-commerce and digital industries in Spain, the Ecomm Awards were celebrated at the end of this year’s Ecomm retail event where Managing Director of bigmouthmedia Spain, Manuel Jurado Gras, picked up the award on behalf of the company.

Securing the award for Best Digital Agency in a fiercely competitive sector, the agency was distinguished for the ability with which the team delivers its digital marketing campaigns, integrating creative and design innovation with strategic and effective campaign management. Bigmouthmedia’s international presence and vast experience enables the company to manage fully adaptable and versatile global campaigns in multiple languages. Bigmouthmedia has continued its successful run at the prestigious Ecomm Awards, having won the award for Best Search Agency at last year’s ceremony.

"We are extremely pleased to have received such recognition for our hard work for the second year in a row. Having only 2 years of operating and managing campaigns in the Spanish market under our belt, the team is confident that we are on the right path, and being named Best Digital Agency certainly supports our belief”, explained Manuel Jurado Gras, Managing Director of bigmouthmedia Spain.

“Having been judged against such stiff competition in the category, we are very proud of winning this particular award. It marks a recognition of our capabilities and the added value we provide for our clients as a result of our exceptional team spirit and the dynamism with which we deliver campaigns. We take this award as encouragement to continue to operate and develop in the same direction within this exciting industry.”

Organised by the highly respected online publication specialising online business and e-commerce Ecommretail, the Ecomm Awards aim to recognise companies that contribute to the promotion of online marketing and the e-commerce industry through innovation and excellence.

Lowcostholidays.com selects bigmouthmedia to lead its expansion into Europe

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:11:27 GMT

Lowcostholidays.com, the leading holiday provider, has announced that it has selected digital marketing agency, bigmouthmedia, to launch its SEO and PPC marketing strategies for the roll out of its European sites.

The travel expert, which has built a reputation for bringing new levels of online technological innovation to the holiday sector, has appointed bigmouthmedia, Europe's largest independent digital marketing agency, to spearhead its plans for rapid expansion. Responsible for establishing advanced search engine optimisation and Pay Per Click (PPC) programmes targeting consumers in Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Norway and Sweden, bigmouthmedia's international teams will deliver a strategic campaign designed to replicate the company's rapid UK growth rates across the continent.

"We are delighted to be working on an ambitious strategy that will play a significant role in the continued growth of lowcostholidays.com as an internationally recognised travel brand. As two companies built upon the twin foundations of technological innovation and international vision we already have a lot in common, and are looking forward to what should be an exciting campaign," said Simon Heyes, head of International Media at bigmouthmedia.

The combined search engine optimisation and PPC campaign will be directed by bigmouthmedia's UK team with the work being delivered locally by the agency's offices in each of the target markets. Work has already begun in Germany and Sweden, with the strategy rolling out across the remaining territories over the course of the next year.

Fran Hall, head of Marketing at lowcostholidays.com, added: "It quickly became clear to us that bigmouthmedia was the natural choice to lead our search marketing campaign. Not only does it have an established track record and reputation for technical excellence, but the agency also has a global reach and an understanding of the international markets that few companies can rival."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

About bigmouthmedia:
Bigmouthmedia is a digital marketing company which specializes in 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.

Bourne launches Basis to cut costs of international e-mail campaigns

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 11:21:48 GMT

Leading digital agency Bourne has unveiled Basis, a new breed of marketing tool designed to slash costs and change the way that international digital campaigns are delivered.

Developed while working on Dell's channel marketing programmes in EMEA, APAC, North America and Latin America, Basis has been designed to radically reduce the time, costs and complexities involved in producing and approving multi-language digital communications. Removing the need to create messages from scratch for each project, the service is capable of cutting the resources required to manage such campaigns by more than 50%.

"Basis is a service born of necessity. In our experience international campaigns being run by corporate central marketing departments can take nearly a month to release, from the time of brief, due to the complexity of producing and approving e-mails across multiple departments and countries, landing pages and micro sites in over 20 languages every time they decided to mount a campaign," said Dan Kersh, Bourne's Managing Director.

"From our perspective, the need for a system that enabled greater speed while safeguarding control and accountability is self evident."

Bourne began the development process with an audit of all types of digital communications and devised a consolidated set of core templates aimed at increasing usability, effectiveness and brand consistency across communications. The agency also simultaneously developed an production and workflow management system, which added control and accountability to the production process and several elements of automation to the publication of e-mails and landing pages.

After being rolled out within Dell the resulting tool - Basis - delivered immediate efficiencies, reducing average E-mail and landing page production time from 29 days to a maximum of 7 days. Also removing many sources of potential human error from the process, a uniform creative style has seen conversion rates increase steadily since the tool's implementation.

Bourne reports an overall reduction in the cost of e-mail & landing page production by over 50%, noting that Dell has taken this opportunity to allocate budget to other business lines that were previously not receiving any marketing communications.

Bourne unveils impressive year one results

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:15:04 GMT

Creative digital agency Bourne has unveiled an impressive set of results following the completion of a successful first year in business.

Launched in September 2009 the company has rapidly established three international offices and acquired a blue-chip client list that has helped it smash its financial targets for year one. With turnover set to exceed £2million and gross profit margins running at 55%, the agency is already well on course to outstrip projected performance for its second year of trading.

"It's been a fantastic start for us. We've blown our first year's targets out of the water, won some truly excellent global clients and attracted a raft of very talented new staff to the business. There's no doubt that trading conditions have been challenging, but we've shown that with the right people, the right approach and the right attitude, there are no barriers that a new company cannot overcome," said Dan Kersh, Bourne's Managing Director.

Shortly after launching Bourne quickly set up offices in New York and London. Both are now firmly established, with the Manhattan business now servicing a range of US based clients and contributing to a client roster that includes Ricoh EMEA, Microsoft, Royal Carribean, Stepstone, Dell and the Arcadia group.

In addition to increasing its launch staff 50% to take the company strength up to a headcount of 40 Bourne has also invested in Cargo, a niche e-commerce business targeting the fashion and retail sectors and set to undergo full commercial launch before the end of the year. The agency has also poured resources into creating Basis, a bespoke multilingual content marketing tool aimed at reducing the time and costs associated with mounting international email campaigns.

"We've been following a packed agenda since the moment we opened our doors and it has paid off with a very satisfactory set of results. This is just the beginning however and I expect year two to contain more of the same, with even more rapid growth taking place as we look to capitalise on bespoke technologies like Basis and continue to take the Bourne message out to an international business audience," said Kersh.

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 and British Airways partnered again to launch an ambitious search campaign integrating SEO and PPC aimed at improving SEO rankings, reducing PPC spend and ensuring PPC budget was used tactically to drive incremental sales volume. Their strategy, which carefully matched business objectives, achieved, cross-channel synergies to maximise ROI and budget efficiencies and delivered excellent results, including 31% reduction in paid search CPA, 87% reduction in PPC spend for certain keywords and 400% increase in number one ranking positions for "flights to <destination>" keywords.

The proactive affiliate marketing campaign which bigmouthmedia put together for Macdonald Hotels based around the use of bespoke offers and improving coverage of hotel name and brand-hybrid terms achieved equally strong results. In addition to improved ROI across all online channels the strategy saw average booking values increased by 13.9% and drove a 110% year-on-year increase in revenue from the affiliate channel for the group.

Phil Gripton, managing director of bigmouthmedia UK, said: "Nominations for awards like these are a fitting reward for a job well done. I'm delighted to have seen all the team's hard work on behalf of our clients recognised and look forward to seeing what they'll achieve next as we continue to deliver hard hitting and innovative campaigns that make a success of our customers' online businesses."

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 digital marketing news to ensure clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

Bigmouthmedia survey reveals public believe online financial advertising is dishonest

Fri, 28 May 2010 10:32:47 GMT

Bigmouthmedia has called upon the Financial Services Authority to introduce new rules to govern the selling of finance products online.

Speaking at the annual bigmouthmedia Finance Summit in London, finance strategist Chris Cathcart unveiled the results of a new consumer survey showing that 77% of web users believe that online financial advertising is neither honest nor straight-forward. The research - conducted in partnership with Financial Marketing UK - revealed that a clear majority of respondents mistrust the sector.

"The Financial Services Authority has to recognise that the web marketplace presents a unique range of challenges for the finance sector and that continuing to ignore the issue is no longer an option. They must step up to the plate and help organisations by providing a detailed set of guidelines governing selling online if we are to avoid what could end up as a compliance nightmare," said Cathcart, bigmouthmedia's senior finance strategist.

Consumers also displayed similar levels of mistrust and suspicion when it comes to the financial figures such as interest rates and potential savings gains displayed on websites. A resounding 65% of respondents categorically stated that they do not trust such numbers and cannot make decisions based upon them.

When asked to identify the product categories they found troublesome to research online, consumers identified the most significant challenges as arising when investigating investment opportunities. A compelling 65% said they found researching investment products either "fairly confusing" or "very confusing", whereas 80% said they had little or no problems evaluating car insurance deals on the web.

Results from the research indicate that language could play a significant role in the confusion. An overwhelming 98% of respondents believe that the terms and conditions governing products and services sold online should be in plain English rather than the complex legal jargon currently used in the majority of contracts.

"The evidence couldn't be any clearer: the majority of consumers distrust the finance sector and there is a lot of work to do to win that confidence back. Wording terms and conditions in a manner they can understand would be a major step towards achieving this," added Cathcart.

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.

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