Click This: Why Banner Ads Are Having a Banner Year

I start my mornings with a quick b-line to the coffee machine for a much needed caffeine boost, check my emails and lastly read the latest headlines from Mashable. Today I came across an interesting article about display or banner ads and their significant rise in market share (as predicted for 2015 by eMarketer) as the top online ad segment despite their historically low click-through rate.

(Here's the article...)
Click This: Why Banner Ads Are Having a Banner Year

One might ask, why does this statistically poor performing ad segment seeing an increase in ad expenditure over the next four years? How are marketers justifying the cost-benefits of display ads?

The article states that we (as marketers) need to see past the numbers to find it's true value. (Agreed.) I'm not saying tangible stats aren't important, not in the least bit. BUT remember, don't discount the value of getting your name, logo and brand in front of thousands of potential customers on a daily basis even if they don't click on your ad.

According to the article, what is the value of display ads? Having the exposure to build brand awareness and brand affinity.

What are your thoughts?

Top 14 Things Marketers Need to Know About QR Codes

There still might be a bit of confusion about one of my favorite marketing tools, QR Codes. LinkedIn reposted an article from Search Engine Watch titled, Top 14 Things Marketers Need to Know About QR Codes, which immediately caught my interest. Yes, I've posted my fair share of articles about this hot marketing tool. I'm sure at least half of my regular audience is tired of me talking about QR Codes, but I am willing to bet you will learn something new thing after reading this article.

I fully enjoyed reading this article because 1) it did a great job covering the basics 2) seamlessly integrated the latest up-to-date information and technological innovations relating to QR Codes 3) provided useful reference links to QR readers, management and tracking tools and 4) shared helpful tips on how to create a successful QR campaign.

With that said, I hope you will take 5-10 minutes out of your busy day to learn something new. Have a productive Wednesday!

Read the article!

Announcement from Visual Communications Group

Welcome you to the new and improved Signsearch™ website (www.signsearch.com).

The new site is the latest in a series of comprehensive redesigns that continue to align Signsearch with the changing landscape of the internet and needs of our users.

We’ve already received some great feedback on the redesign since it was launched last week. Here are a few key points regarding some changes:

• Due to strong opposition from users, we’ve removed the “click to view” action required to view contact information. We originally believed that having users click to view contact information would have been a small inconvenience in exchange for better protection of our advertisers' data from illegal data scrapers, as well as allowing us to be more accountable to them in justifying their advertising dollars spent with us. Apparently we were wrong, and we apologize for the temporary inconvenience we may have caused you. We do ask, however, that you please support our advertisers and remind them that you “found them on Signsearch."

• Many of you have asked us about the “distance from” information in your search result. Please note that the "distance from" information is only available to a logged in user (free account). If you don't yet have a user account, (again, for which there is no charge), please feel free to simply create one by clicking on the “Login” link at the top of the page on www.signsearch.com, or call our Customer Service Department at 800-566-4162 and someone will be more than happy to set you up with one.

• We’re now providing a “Map This Page” feature that displays your search result in a Google map format. You can also view a company’s contact information from the map result page.

• Logged in users can now send up to 20 confidential “Group Emails” in a single email.

• We’ve increased the file size for attachments sent through the site from 3MB to 9MB.

To learn more about the many new features of the new site, please visit www.signsearch.com/features.

Visual Communications Group Unveils New Signsearch Site Design

BURNSVILLE, Minn. – June 1, 2011 – Visual Communications Group, Inc. (VCG), a full-service marketing company that serves the visual and graphic communications industry, has launched a newly redesigned website for its flagship brand and domain, Signsearch™ (www.signsearch.com).

Signsearch, the premier search engine for the sign and graphics industry in the United States and Canada, now offers an improved experience for buyers that use the site to find sign and graphics companies. This is the latest in a series of comprehensive redesigns that continue to align the site with the growing importance of the internet in the sign industry.

“This redesign reflects our commitment to creating the very best experience for our users. The final product is a result of months of research and feedback from sign and graphics companies, end-user buyers, job forwarders, and trade suppliers that engage on our site on a daily basis,” says Rick Stewart, president of Visual Communications Group.

The site has a new color scheme, a multitude of feature upgrades, and extensive improvements to the overall functionality and performance. The upgraded features include mapped search results, turn-by-turn directions, the ability to save searches, the functionality to send a confidential group email to companies across multiple searches, and the significantly improved ability to navigate between company profile pages.

“We’re confident that users will notice an improvement in the performance of the site. Our business mission at VCG has always been to facilitate new business relationships for our Members and this redesign is one of the many initiatives we’re taking to continue that mission. We’re very excited to introduce the new Signsearch,” explains Stewart.

Visual Communications Group, Inc.
Visual Communications Group, Inc. (www.vcgcorporate.com) is a full-service marketing company that serves visual and graphic communications businesses through a family of online search engines and marketing services. Their flagship domain signsearch.com™ has been a trusted search engine in the sign industry for over 10 years. Products such as digitalprintingsearch.com™, screenprintingsearch.com™, and VCG Stores™ provide essential online marketing and ecommerce opportunities to related graphics businesses. Visual Communications Group connects buyers and sellers through innovative, data-driven execution of marketing and promotions, online advertising programs, and e-commerce solutions.

© 2011 Visual Communications Group, Inc. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. Visual Communications Group, Inc. shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Opportunities in Your Inbox

I received my weekly ISA SmartBrief in my inbox this afternoon and thought to myself, "how many sign owners get this great publication." I hope a vast majority of sign owners reading this blog post said, "well, of course I subscribe to SmartBrief. I can't believe you're even asking."

Why do I like this publication? I find this digital publication to be quite informative and comprehensive on the top current projects, trending technologies, and government/regulatory issues affecting small businesses all over the country.

Here's a breakdown:

The first section covers upcoming construction, renovation, and development projects happening all over the U.S. Today's top two stories are titled, Indiana airport launches $153M expansion and CEO proposes $900M development project for Baltimore. Talk about opportunities!

The second section covers new technology and trends in the sign and graphic communications industry. Lastly, the final two sections cover government/regulatory issues and important news updates from ISA.

ISA SmartBrief is an excellent digital publication tailored specifically for our industry and it brings you relevant news stories in reasonably digestible amounts.

Want to sign up for ISA SmartBrief? (Did I mention it's FREE.) Click here.