When you’re in the business of loving media, staying up-to-date with industry news, tips and trends isn’t just optional, it’s a necessary obsession – and a fun one at that!

We thought it would be interesting to poll Kantar Media SRDS employees to find out which e-newsletters and sites make their list of must-reads. While you probably already visit many of these sites, we wager there are at least a few you’ve never heard of—and we love helping you discover new sites. Give them a shot! You never know what new insights you might stumble upon.

1. AAF SmartBrief
2. Ad Age
3. Ad Exhanger
4. Adweek
5. All Things D
6. Art Sobczak's Smart Calling
7. BtoB Magazine
8. Business Insider
9. ClickZ
10. Daily Infographic
11. DM News
12. Editor & Publisher
13. eMarketer Daily
14. Emedia vitals
15. Exchangewire
16. Folio
17. GigaOM
18. HispanicAd Newsletter
19. iMedia Connection
20. I Want Media from AOL
21. Lifehacker
22. LinkedIn Today
23. Mashable
24. Mediabistro
25. Media Daily News
26. Media Life
27. MediaPost
28. MPA Magazine News
29. Multichannel magazine
30. Outsell
31. paidContent from GigaOM
32. Publishing Executive
33. RTB and RTM posts from MediaPost
34. Stack Overflow
35. Target Marketing
36. The Media Briefing
37. TVNewsCheck
38. Web Marketing Association SmartBrief
39. Wooden Horse Magazine Media News
40. TheExcelAddict.com

What other industry websites and newsletters do you read frequently?

Theresa Dali of Sky Marketing is the winner of our $100 AMEX gift card giveaway.

Here’s the story:

A few months ago we upgraded the way list managers and owners in the SRDS.com direct marketing database update their lists. We asked them to start making updates through a new online system rather than mailing or faxing their changes. Changes submitted online are quickly curated by our DM team and then uploaded. List managers and owners that switched went into the giveaway drawing

When we upgraded, we were pleased to see list managers embrace and praise the system.  We heard:

• “It’s easy to use.”
• “I’m glad it’s available whenever I need it.”

It’s a win-win for SRDS.com users too. The ease of the system means that list data will be more current, so users can make better and smarter direct marketing decisions. 

Congrats again to our winner and remember, if you have any questions about the system or how it works, call or email the team at 847-375-5061 or kj.lee@srds.com.

When using SRDS, when should I use the database search and when should I use open? That’s a question I get all the time when I’m conducting training sessions, so I wanted to share my two cents in the hope that it’ll make your searching easier and more efficient.

Sometimes it’s a matter of preference and other times it’s a matter of task. Are you researching a category or market or are you grabbing a specific piece of information? Let me give you an example of two different users who asked similar questions about these search options.

In both instances, the user was having trouble finding what they wanted; in one case, a specific set of healthcare pubs and in another, consumer fashion magazines. In both situations, the user became frustrated using the Open Search.

If you think you know exactly what you want to find (say, a specific print media listing), then the results of a general open search can sometimes seem like overkill. This particular client phrased it more colorfully, but his confusion stemmed from the fact that he didn't narrow the open search by using the “Options” drop-down. By default, the Open Search is a keyword search that returns ALL the listings that contain your keyword, from within ALL media types that you subscribe to. If you leave “All Media” selected you will get just that.

When using Open Search, be sure to change the default to the specific media you are interested in and select “Title Only” if you are searching for a specific media listing. Be sure to enter the entire exact title when searching Title Only, not just the first word in the title.

Is there anything else that both users could have done to solve their problem? If you answered “go to the database and search by Classification,” you would be correct! In some cases, it might be easier to do a Class search to see all Healthcare titles or Fashion, Beauty and Grooming titles.

Then if they wanted to see if they were missing anything that wouldn't be in the class, they could have done an Open Search.

Open Search is ideal for getting a high-level perspective on a category or market, but if you want a narrower set of results, use the more specific search tools at your disposal and select a media type or title-only option first.

So, without further ado, here are the 3 must-have guidelines for searching in SRDS.com:

1. Looking for a specific listing? Do a title search.
2. Exploring new opportunities? Do a keyword search.
3. Investigating options in a specific category? Do a database class search. 

Yesterday, two members of our marketing team were in for a real treat. We headed to downtown Chicago to hear leading author, speaker and strategist Joe Pulizzi talk about his bread and butter – content marketing. The event was hosted by the Business Marketing Association’s Chicago chapter and they did a fantastic job – with photos being posted as they were taken and a live storyboard (pictured above).

The storyboard was created by Ink Factory during the seminar. Ink Factory does live storyboarding, as well as graphic illustrative videos. Pretty neat!

The room was packed full of marketing professionals, including B-to-B marketers and advertisers, educators, students, publishers, creatives, web developers, trade show experts and agency folks.

Joe’s main message throughout his presentation was that as marketers, we need to provide our clients and customers with the content they want and, more importantly, need.

Specifically: what are our customers’ pain points? And how can we solve those problems with content?

It’s a fascinating idea, and Joe dove into some case studies of companies that have literally become their own media companies.

His top example of great content marketing was Red Bull. “Red Bull is a media company that happens to sell energy drinks,” he said. Did you know that Red Bull has a magazine, a radio station and other media channels? Check out the SRDS Red Bull video media kit here!

So the challenge *or* opportunity that we have as marketers is producing enough engaging content for our clients and customers.

Joe didn’t shy away from the fact that this is tough to do, but he did emphasize that it’s critical to success.

Here are some snippets from his seminar that every marketer should be doing–or at the very least, thinking about:

1. Watch “Content 2020″ from Coca-Cola! The video is what Joe calls, Coke’s “Jerry McGuire” mission statement on moving the organization from creative excellence to content excellence.
2. Every company NEEDS a content marketing mission statement. Instead of getting fixated on channels such as Facebook or Pinterest, you first need to focus on the underlying content strategy. So, the why must come before the what. It may seem obvious, but many marketers don’t have a fundamental strategy behind the content they develop. The mission statement should address your core audience target, what will be delivered to the audience and the outcome for the audience.
3. You can’t just have “so-so” content. It needs to be the best content to reach your very specific audience. Your goal should be to become the leading informational provider for your niche, customers and prospects can get their information from anywhere, so our goal should be that their info comes from us.
4. Leverage other employees in content creation. They have stories too, especially your partners in sales or training. They are the ones in constant contact with clients and prospects, so they may have a better sense of the kind of content your audience is looking for.
5. Build an influencer hit list. Who are the people that your clients are going to for advice or whose blogs are they reading? Once you have that list, follow those users on Twitter, read their blogs, share their content, comment on their posts, and then maybe even invite them to do a guest post on your blog. Having an eye and ear on what your audience is already reading can be extremely helpful for your own content development process.

We had a blast hearing Joe speak, and hope these key facts help all of you marketers out there as you start your 2013 plans. To find out more about Joe’s views, check out the Content Marketing Institute.

How have you seen companies using content marketing successfully?

One thing that came up repeatedly at this year's DMA Conference in Las Vegas was: How do you optimize your direct marketing content across media channels?

The three themes of the conference – big data, customer engagement, and marketing accountability – all point to integrating channels as direct marketing's new frontier. Specifically, it's about how to make social media dance to your overall branding identity.

So far, nobody is dominating in the multi-channel direct marketing game, so the field is wide open for innovation. Blue Cross Blue Shield is one company that has been able to turned its weakness into a winner by combining phone sales with mobile search. Instead of creating a killer app or mobile website, BCBS built in click-to-call functionality, so that mobile users could contact their customer service center directly from the SERP.

Another leader exploiting the strengths of different channels for an integrated campaign is Coach. They whipped up a buzz on Facebook for a new look-book, so the print campaign came with a built-in audience ready to buy.

There's an old saw that goes “Marketing makes plans while sales makes money.” That's what marketing accountability is going to change through big data's insights on consumer behavior. The DMA expects sales from direct marketing to grow at about 5 percent this year, and most of that will be the result of cross-channel marketing.

One way to foster tighter integration of your campaigns is to start with the customer and work backwards, according to Shar Van-Boskirk, an analyst at Forrester Research. She suggests that patterns in your customer data will point the way to your next logical step.

“Organizationally align people who are responding to different channels into the same database. Integrate a loyalty program with an outbound email program and online booking engine, for example. Instead of thinking of them as three separate groups with three separate goals going after the same customers, try to nurture the customer in a holistic way.”

As you develop your integrated campaign, don't forget that we are here to help no matter what medium your message demands. Whether you need sources, selects, costs and other valuable information to help you find and evaluate lists and refine your list strategy (using the SRDS direct marketing database) or are looking for ways to integrate your message across digital or local media, SRDS can help. 

What about you—what have you heard or learned about at this year's DMA?

Someone asked:

Really, is anyone still using snail mail? Management at the U.S. Postal service just took another hit in their struggle to remain relevant when they defaulted on their second payment and warned of more losses this year. 

Is this the final proof that direct mail is dead or perhaps just walking dead?

Night of the Living Direct Mail

Ask any direct marketer: direct mail is still animated, and will be as long as it still averages a response rate around 4 percent, compared to less than 1 percent for display ads, search and email combined. In fact, Millward Brown reported in a recent study that “physical media–AKA direct mail–left a ‘deeper footprint’ in the brain” than digital marketing. Printed marketing pieces stand out a lot more in postal inboxes because volume is down. But given the expense of direct mail, it has much to account for when measured against the virtually free world of digital and mobile marketing.

Of course “free” marketing doesn't mean anything if it can't bring conversions.

The New Breed of Marketing

Integrating postal mail with mobile and digital marketing is a win-win for everyone. (Naturally the postal service agrees.) This past summer the USPS offered two months of discounts on letters and postcards that include a two-dimensional barcode or print/mobile technology. Now that promotion is being extended into the holiday season so the marketers (and consumers) can get the most out of Black Friday promotions.

As businesses grudgingly accept the new world of hyper-personalized marketing, expect to see more integrated campaigns running as cross-channel, lifecycle marketing programs. As the Web grows more mobile, social and local every day, marketers will have to upgrade every weapon in their arsenals to keep reaching their target customers.

Over the last few years, we've seen more and more direct marketing companies add our digital media database to their resources. Now we're seeing digital marketing companies ask about our list research database, as they reach out for postal options for integrated campaigns.

Age of Individuals

The rise of integrated campaigns is giving a massive transfusion to direct mail campaigns. Many digital-focused marketers were caught off guard by a recent report from Epsilon Targeting, showing that the 18-34 market actually prefers direct mail for some types of information. A significant portion of consumers also consider direct mail more trustworthy than email. After all, how many postcards have you gotten from Nigeria lately? This can be read as the triumph of targeting, as blind mailings represent the portion of direct mail that are (and should be) truly dead in the Age of Individuals.

This reincarnation of direct mail promises to be a hot topic at this year's DMA2012 conference, going on now in Las Vegas. We're there now at Booth #317...if you are too, stop by to say hi!

Have you heard the buzz words big data and customer engagement this year? I'd be surprised if you haven't. Both are essential tools for direct marketers, but big data has the potential to create a whole new industry.

Big data (the concept) can mean different things depending on how you want to use it. Generally, it refers to the vast deposits of consumer information generated by a wide array of online interactions. Data is collected constantly by social networks, transactions, supply chains, surveys, sensors, and other technologies. The result of this constant stream of information is what we refer to as "big data," and is a new gold rush with many searching for ways to mine it.

In many ways, the web is only now fulfilling its promise of in-depth customer data and demographic targeting that businesses have been looking for over the past 20 years. It's hard to believe, but just six years ago there was no Facebook. Ten years ago we were looking at the shrapnel of a dot-com bubble and wondering if the web would ever be profitable.

The arrival of big data has changed the game again.

The age of segmentation is over and the age of personalization is here. Consumers no longer respond to ads targeted for the 35-50 married suburban segment. They expect ads relevant to their individual, immediate needs and their rapidly changing lifestyles. Direct marketers, using the power of big data from social, mobile, and local sites, can now deliver that kind of pinpoint targeting on a massive scale.

Judith Hurwitz, from emerging technology research firm Hurwitz & Associates, summed it up best. Small businesses are no longer looking at database reports of last years sales figures. Big data now allows them to:

“make use of all the information relevant to the business—sales data, chatter on social networking sites, information from partners and suppliers, as well as publicly available data. Understanding all this information can mean the difference between anticipating an issue before it can derail sales and explaining why you missed your sales target.”

As processing speeds increase, storage gets cheaper, and the broadband pipe gets wider, marketers will be able to identify global trends fast enough to get on board (and even predict) consumer behavior with assurance.

That's going to be big.

 

As seasoned direct marketing users know, the SRDS Direct Marketing database is updated very frequently—new lists are added, old lists deleted, and lists change hands on a daily basis. You also know how important it can be to learn about new lists as soon as they are available.

To help you navigate this rapidly changing direct marketing world, the SRDS Direct Marketing database includes a "New Lists" tab, giving you the ability to quickly view lists that are brand new (or have changed hands) within the last 30 days.

From within the Direct Marketing database, click the "New Lists" tab, then narrow by type of list to see what is new in your area of interest:

• Domestic Business Lists
• Domestic Consumer Lists
• Canadian Lists
• International Business Lists
• International Consumer Lists
• Business Insert Media
• Consumer Insert Media

Note: If you're particularly interested in "what's new" in direct marketing, you're probably attending the DMA show in Las Vegas later this month. We'll be there too! Stop by booth #317 and introduce yourself; we'd love to say hi!

SRDS is a terrific tool for discovering new media options, but sometimes we know exactly what we're looking for. If you're looking for a specific media listing in SRDS, use the "Open Search by title" feature.

Enter the name of the media property, click the "Options" drop-down, select "Title Only," and click "Go."

For extra specificity, select a media type since some media properties have profiles across multiple media. For example, Glamour Magazine has a consumer magazine, website and direct marketing lists in SRDS.

The new exporting and reports functionality in SRDS is a great way to export custom lists of media to use in your plans and research. But what detail is included in the new Detailed Reports option?

The detail depends on the media you're working with, and the option only appears if you've selected a single media type. So the first question to ask is: what media are you tagging?

• For print Business Media listings, the detail includes frequency, total circulation, circulation source, and some rates and bleed information.
• For print Consumer Magazine Media listings, the detail includes the above, plus rate based information.
• For print Newspaper listings, the detail includes publish area, weekday circ, Sunday circ, some Display/ROP rates, some classified rates and column sizing information.
• For Radio and TV, it includes the individual personnel at the station, plus in TV we also have traffic information.
• For Digital listings, you have the most current Compete unique visitor number as detail.
• For Direct Marketing lists, you get the total universe and cost per thousand.

The reports are a fast, easy way to pull topline information into a spreadsheet format so you don't lose track of media properties you are interested in. Try them out and see why many users have said they save so much time!

This past weekend we released a suite of enhancements to the way your Open Search results are organized and displayed.

Based directly on feedback from users like you, (thanks, and keep the input coming!), the new Open Search workflow streamlines the experience of searching across multiple media types, while still giving you the ability to apply powerful, media-specific filters to optimize your results.

Filter options are now available for all media types:

• Business Publications: classification, domestic or international titles, listings with classified information and audited titles.
• Consumer Magazines: classification and audited titles.
• Digital Media: classification, DMA, sites with website metrics and audience demographics.
• Direct Marketing: classification, domestic, international or Canadian lists and list type and selects, including e-mail list/e-mail selects, enhanced lists, high ticket mail order buyers and new listings.
• Newspapers: national and DMA markets, listings with classified information and newspaper type, including dailies, communities, alternatives and shoppers.
• Out-of-Home: national and DMA markets and media types.
• Radio: metro and non-metro markets, format and primary demographic.
• TV & Cable: media types, including TV stations, cable systems and TV/Cable networks, national and DMA markets and commercial TV stations, non-commercial TV stations and interconnects.

Use the Media Companies tab to identify networks, representatives, groups, owners, brokers and managers, organized by media type.

Search as easy as 1-2-3

The Open Search changes are easy to master and will kick your SRDS searching game up a notch:

1. Enter keywords, phrases, or titles
2. Search across all media types (by default) or make more advanced selections from the “Options” drop down menu. Search specific media types or click the “Title Only” box if you know exactly what you’re looking for.
3. View and/or narrow your results. Available media are categorized by media type on the left side of the screen (The numbers in parentheses show the number of matching results). Click a media type to display media-specific filters and narrow your results.
   
   Just click “Back to Original Results” to return to the cross-media big picture

For the super searcher

Did you know you can kick it up yet another notch? Check out our Search Tips to see how you can perform advanced searches such as searching for a phrase, excluding certain words from your search and using the AND and OR operators to find exactly what you’re looking for.

On June 29, we are sunsetting the "old" SRDS.com and transitioning all of our users to the new multimedia planning platform at next.srds.com. Many of you have already been using the new site (some for many months!), but there are also plenty of folks who will have questions. In this post, I am going to cover some "new SRDS basics" to hopefully avoid any confusion, and, as always, if you have questions feel free to call or email me.

Here are tips to get you started:

Blue links offer more information.

For example:

• The  names of media properties appear in blue and link you to the media brand's full listing
• Help or additional information appear under blue links (for example: “Search Tips”)
• Audit statements are in blue, and clicking on them will load the audit statement (Remember: ABC requires membership to access statements via SRDS; BPA and CCAB do not. However, the first time you click a BPA or CCAB link it will take you to the home page of the BPA website where you will need to register once.

Action Icons in search results or detailed listings give quick access to more media planning data

Video media kits

Tablet application and media kit

Instant editions

Publisher and 3^rd party research

Audience data

Featured Marketing Opportunities

Social Media presence

Audit data

Compete data

Best way to search across media?

Open Search. Enter words or phrases where it says "Enter Keyword," and click Go.

Best way to search across media and markets?

Local Search by DMA. Select your DMA(s), then filter by media types.

And more!

• The advertising you see in SRDS will often give you quite a bit more information about a media brand
• Title search still exists: just enter the name of the media property where it says “Enter Keyword” then click Options. Select "Title Only" and, if you are so inclined, the database the listing is in
• Listings look different, but all of the data is there. Just look for the appropriate tab and scroll through the data under each tab
• Searching by media type is still an option. Just select the database under the Search tab and start to filter your results.

Would you like me to give you a WebEx training on the ins and outs of the new SRDS? Check my training schedule here or get in touch.

There's an old advertising axiom: "Where there are people, there's money." 

Okay, so its not an old advertising axiom and, in fact, I just made it up. But it seems like the battle cry for those spending money in and around social media these days. I think, though, that advertisers are missing something when they go charging into the social media landscape all big-eyed with wallet wide open.

Yes, there are millions upon millions of people spending boatloads of minutes with social media every day. And yes, if you want to sell a product or service you have to go where the people are spending their time regardless of the format. But just because people spend lots of highly engaged minutes in this space doesn't mean those minutes translate directly into advertising gold. 

So what gives?

First, none of the major players in social media have really figured out a business model that draws a straight line between folks spending time with their service and revenue. Don't believe me? Ask yourself the following questions: 

• How much is each of your Facebook fans worth?
• What's the sales impact of a "Like" on your brand page?  
• How many Twitter followers do you need to break even or make money on your social media investment?   

Second, social media is a strange mix. It's a water cooler conversation, coffee klatch, family reunion, stream of consciousness, and ultimate narcissistic platform all rolled into one. It's the intersection of the sharing of troves of personal information over the world's most perfect advertising medium.  But because we don't approach our water cooler conversations or narcissistic moments with the expectation to buy anything, we don't make it easy for advertisers to act on this perfect storm.

So what's an advertiser to do? They can't, after all, walk away from all of this great data being gathered from our social media activity, can they? No, and the good news is they shouldn't. But rather than trying to derive ROI directly from social media, advertisers should think more about social media as a space for consumer cultivation rather than conversion.

I know I'd be intrigued by offers based on insights into my life gathered from my social media breadcrumb trail. To me offers that are tailored to my needs are smart and thoughtful and something I'd listen to. And, yes, maybe even buy.

Don’t even think about rekeying that data. Now you can view multimedia options and take them with you, with SRDS’ new reports-building functionality. The new SRDS Reports feature lets you select titles, view them side-by-side, organize, sort, print and output key planning data.

Select

Whether you’re doing a quick title search or broader research, you can add titles to your consideration set from the detailed listing or right from the results page, saving precious time. An at-a-glance view of all your tagged titles is always available (think shopping cart). 

Sort

Once you’re tagged up, go to your Reports area to evaluate all the media selections you’ve made. Compare your titles in a Grid view—you won’t be disappointed!

Print

Just want a handy print out of your consideration set? No problem.

Download Contact Information

Download a Contact Report for any and all titles you’ve selected across the SRDS database. Just one keystroke generates a file you can sort, filter, append and customize to your liking in spreadsheet programs such as Excel.

Contact information includes (where available):

• Media title and type
• Owner name
• Classification or market area
• Address, phone, fax and email
• Media kit URL and corporate URL

Download Detailed Data

More data, you say? In addition to contact information, Detailed Reports provide you with, well, more details. Detailed Reports are available when viewing a single media type, allowing you to take a deep dive into the planning data for that specific media type.

Fields included in a Detailed Report depend on the media type selected:

• Print: rates, circulation, frequency, rate base and bleed information
• Broadcast: network affiliations and key personnel and traffic information
• Digital: Unique Visitors from Compete.com
• Direct Marketing: list universes and base rates

Reports Tip: Don't forget  the icing on the cake. You can always copy and paste media images and logos in your reports to provide extra insight and interest.

We'll show you how easy it all is in less than 5 minutes with this video, or you can download a sample Contact Report or Detailed Report.

Better yet, sign in to SRDS now and start tagging media for yourself!

You probably already know that we make hundreds of updates each month to the media planning data on SRDS.com, but when you look back at the first four months of 2012, the numbers that my colleagues in data operations put forth really are impressive. 

• Through April, our data team made 9,661 updates and added 135 new listings to our b-to-b, consumer, newspaper, TV, and radio databases
• Our amazing direct marketing team made 31,102 updates and added 4,219 new direct marketing listings

Current data matters, and we make a concerted effort to keep the data you use to find, consider and understand media as current as possible!

You’ve seen the new design of the SRDS multimedia platform.  Integrated databases, flexible searching, helpful results chock full of covers, logos and topline rates and consideration data. Hooray, outstanding, fantastic, you say, along with…

• “What are the unique visitor numbers for this site?”
• “What is the close date for the May issue for this pub?”
• “Who can I call at this hour for a deadline extension for the (ahem) May issue? "

We know you probably have at least twenty more such questions in your head and about as many hours or less to turn around a client presentation or plan. That’s why it’s important you know exactly where to access critical planning and buying information.

There’s a tab for that.

Click on a title in your search results and you’ll see an entire page devoted to that media property, with an organized view of all the different information segments that comprise an SRDS listing, nice and tidy, in a tabbed format. The tab name and information will vary by media type, but generally speaking you’ll find tabs covering:

General Information
Read a description of the media property including the provider’s own positioning statement where available. Come here for quick access to their website and media kit. There’s also a link to the print or digital counterpart listing in SRDS.

Contact Info
Here is where you’ll find all the names, numbers and addresses you need to make connections and move things along. Come here for a list of branch offices and reps.

Properties Managed/Owned 
See a list of titles that comprise a group or network as well as properties that are owned, operated or affiliated.

Circulation/Audience Data/Markets Served
Tap into critical evaluation numbers, with many that include links to industry measurement companies and audit bureaus such as ABC, BPA, CVC and Compete. Must. Have Info.

Rates and Advertising Ops
It’s the “R” in SRDS. View this tab to access important rate information as well as policies and overall media/advertising opportunities.

Insertion/Purchasing Info
What’s the best food day? What’s their standard page dimension?  Come here to access issue and closing dates, general specifications, traffic specs, requirements and more.

Brand Portfolio
What’s the story behind this brand? This tab (highlighted in green) contains sponsored content provided by the media property. Come here to get the complete low-down, with links to tons of information including video media kits, tablet edition information, research, instant editions, audience/distribution profile data, featured marketing opportunities and more, all in one place.

Not the tabbed type?

Want to see (or print) all of this information on one happy page? Click the “print” button to see the entire listing on one screen.

We want to know

What piece of SRDS data do you rely upon most? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @srds!

Have you noticed we added over 22,000 local digital listings to the new site?!

Have you tried the new Local Media by DMA search?

If you've ever had a client call and casually ask, "can you throw something together for these markets?" then you know the anxiety it can cause. It's not as easy as just "throwing" something together. Well, our new local search makes it easier.

Just select your DMA(s) and see the entire landscape of media options for those geographic regions. Filtering options make adding media or markets to your initial results quick and easy too.

Try it out, and let us know how it worked for you.

Mike Lewis, Associate Media Director for Kelly Scott Madison in Chicago, spoke last night at the inaugural SRDS Media Mixology event at SD26 in New York.

Mr. Lewis covered methods media professionals can use to effectively manage ad placements during peak political election periods.

Timeframes rife with political advertisements pose a unique challenge for media companies due to the presence of opinionated and sometimes controversial messages circulating across media channels. This factor makes it imperative for marketers to employ creative and often-overlooked outreach tactics to combat market disarray, maximize budgets and avoid inadvertently placing client’s ads alongside negative spots, which can irreversibly damage a campaign’s intended message.

During his presentation, Mr. Lewis went into detail about

• how he has implemented the prior-mentioned methods across past projects
• the different issues various media vehicles pose
• recent legislative developments that have changed the way advertisers overcome political clutter

Did you miss last night's Media Mixology event? Follow the fun from Twitter with the #MediaMix hashtag.

Here are Mr. Lewis' slides:

Thanks for a great discussion!

The new open search offers a new way to use SRDS to find, consider and understand your media options. Here's a quick refresher on how to get the most out of Open Search on next.srds.com:

1. Enter any number of keywords or phrases you want (we use standard search logic, but click Search Tips for more ideas on how to best enter keywords/phrases)
2. Search across all databases you have access to or any combo of databases for media options that meet your project's needs
3. Looking for a specific media property? Enter the title, call letters, website, direct marketing list name, etc., then click the Options drop down and change from ALL MEDIA to TITLE (for an even closer match, also select the appropriate database)

2 Bonus Ways to Use Open Search:

1. I used it this week to help a user find a radio station in Clarinda, Iowa, by entering the market name.
2. Enter a a media owner name tosee listings affiliated with that media owner.

How have you used the Open Search to get your work done? Let us know in the comments.