Our data team strives to provide users with the most updated media planning data within SRDS.com. In April, the team made a total of 8,501 updates to the SRDS.com databases with the largest chunk of updates coming from the business publication database. Here's the full breakdown:

• 1,921 newspaper updates
• 54 out-of-home updates
• 409 TV & cable updates
• 717 radio updates
• 1,207 digital updates
• 3,343 business publications updates
• 850 consumer magazine updates

We know that current data matters, so log in and check out some of the changes!

We’ve added updated Scarborough Newspaper Penetration reports to the new Local Market Info link in SRDS.com. DMA Profiles & Maps will also be housed in this drop-down menu, which can be accessed by all SRDS.com users.

The reports offer valuable media planning data for local newspapers and their e-editions, including daily average reach and percent reach as well as Sunday average reach and percent reach. Log in now, explore the data and let us know what you think.

Recently, a user asked why we deleted our Quick Station Search function in the SRDS.com radio database. We were happy to let her know that the search ability definitely had not been eliminated. It just looks a little different.

You can still get the results you want by using the open search. For example, you can enter call letters, frequency or code call and get all the results that match your search criteria. Take a second to make a search selection that will yield more accurate results. For example, when conducting a call letter search (shown below), you should click Title Only.

Also, you can use the search options to search against only radio and/or only title (which contains the call letters and frequency).

If you have any other questions or would like to sign up for a 30-minute training session, please let me know. 

Our team understands the value of current media planning data and they work hard to update listings every single day. In March, the team updated 8,045 SRDS.com listings bringing the 2013 total to 32,581 updates.

Here’s how last month breaks down:

• 2,757 business publications updates
• 2,080 newspaper updates
• 927 TV & cable updates
• 918 consumer magazine updates
• 887 digital updates
• 381 radio updates
• 95 out-of-home updates

We know that current data matters, so take a moment to log in and check out some of the changes!

 

• Click here to listen and subscribe for free in iTunes (Featured by Apple as a "New and Noteworthy" podcast!)
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About Tim Bingaman

About The Media Mic

The Media Mic is an interview series from Kantar Media SRDS with leaders in the media business about the roads they’ve taken, and the stories and people that make up our vibrant industry. Bandwidth and hosting for The Media Mic is provided by Wizzard Media and Libsyn.

Happy February, SRDS users!

As you get back into the swings of things, I wanted to share three tips that could save you time in your day as you use SRDS.com to locate the right media opportunities:

1. More Information Icons: Immediate access to information you need like tablet editions, video media kits, instant editions, publisher’s research, featured marketing opportunities, distribution/audience profiles, audit statements and social media links.

2. Grid View: Topline overview of listings in your results. How does it save time? It places info in a table format which allows you get quickly scan for important info on your options. Plus you can copy/paste to Excel for further manipulation.

3. Reports: A quick way to collect topline contact information or, if you are looking at a single media type, you can access additional detail on tagged listings. The Reports function allows you to save this info into Excel and format as you choose. Click here for more on how to use Reports. Also, we just announced that users with reporting enabled can now output profile text in a Detailed Report. Find out more about this exciting capability here!

Take a minute to check these features out when you are in SRDS and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.

Once again, our friends at San Diego State University put together a helpful video on how to use SRDS.com, specifically the SRDS Business Publication Media database.

You might remember the video they created last year on SRDS Local Market Audience Analyst™ (LMAA). This new video is just as useful for both SRDS.com beginners and experts looking to brush up their skills.

Marketers and advertisers use the SRDS Business Publication Media database when searching for media planning data on trade media, including websites, publications and direct marketing lists. Organized by vertical market, the Business Media database helps you easily find the right b-to-b media that meets your needs. It includes:

• 5,000+ trade publications
• 5,000+ b-to-b websites
• 25,000+ direct marketing lists
• 80+ media brands with iPad and tablet apps at the SRDS Tablet Media Library
• Over 190 market classifications

Watch the walkthrough at the university’s website if you need to refresh your SRDS.com searching skills. Our thanks to Brittany Cronin and the entire SDSU Tutorial Development Team!

We’ve got some big news to announce this week that should make finding, considering and understanding media even easier in SRDS.com.

More Media Profiles Everywhere

First up, if a media property listing includes a descriptive profile, that profile now appears in your search results. This means you can quickly scan through multiple listing profiles from one convenient screen to better understand different media before clicking through to get more detail. As an added bonus, users with reporting enabled can now output profile text in a Detailed Report.

We’ve also added about 5,000 new profiles, mostly local digital listings, which should give you richer information to decide which regional sites best fit you and your client’s advertising needs.

More Website Images

Curious about what a website listed in SRDS.com actually looks like? Need a quick glimpse of the environment where your client’s digital ads will appear? First impressions count, and now you can see listed sites without leaving SRDS.com. We’ve added nearly 20,000 website images to digital media listings. Remember to click through to the listing detail to see each one:

We hope you find these enhancements useful, especially the profile changes, which came directly from user requests.  There are many more enhancements to SRDS.com and our digital database coming soon, so keep the input coming and stay tuned for more exciting SRDS news.

If you have any questions or need help using SRDS.com, let us know.

Mark and David discuss his pioneering work using database-driven marketing for ad sales and his experience launching the first b-to-b site for professional travel. Along the way they talk about the importance of giving web users what they want, the vital importance of using and understanding third-party web audience metrics and the return of relationship selling.

• Click here to listen and subscribe for free in iTunes (Featured by Apple as a "New and Noteworthy" podcast!)
• Click here to download the mp3 of this episode
• Click below to listen in your browser:.

About Mark Browning

Mark Browning, has 30+ years travel marketing experience, traveling extensively in 45 states, Europe, the Caribbean and attending over 200 travel industry shows. From 1977-1992 Mark's firm represented the South for 13 successful publication launches by major New York and New England based publishers.

In 1993 he launched TRIPsouth, the start of TRIPmedia Group, Inc. He has addressed dozens of groups on travel marketing, and has worked through the U.S. Travel & Tourism Administration to promote inbound tourism to the U.S.A. Mark holds a degree in marketing from Vanderbilt University, was inducted into Who's Who in Advertising in 1990, and was honored with the STS Spirit of Southeast Tourism award in 2000.

He serves on the Board of Directors of the 900-member Southeast Tourism Society, with the House Corporation of his college fraternity, is president of his neighborhood community association, and has co-hosted an annual reunion of Vanderbilt alumni since 2005. Mark lives with his wife of 27+ years in their native North Atlanta. Not surprisingly Mark & Sheala greatly enjoy traveling, especially with their two grown children.

About The Media Mic

The Media Mic is an interview series from Kantar Media SRDS with leaders in the media business about the roads they’ve taken, and the stories and people that make up our vibrant industry. Bandwidth and hosting for The Media Mic is provided by Wizzard Media and Libsyn.

We’ve been keeping busy here at Kantar Media SRDS, and 2013 won’t be any different. I’m happy to report that our data operations team made hundreds of updates to close out the year to ensure that you have the most current data available as you craft your media plans.

Through December, our team made 1,449 updates to our b-to-b, consumer, newspaper, TV and radio databases.

Until next month!

Just because the holiday season is underway doesn’t mean that we’re taking it easy at SRDS. Our data operations team made 2,469 updates to our local, b-to-b and consumer media listings in November.

We know that you need the most current information to make your media planning decisions, so we hope that our updates are helpful to you and your teams.

Enjoy the holidays and ditch stress. When looking for ad opportunities, use SRDS!

Big news for out-of-home advertisers, agencies and media companies from the Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Measurement Inc. (TAB).

Beginning in January 2013, TAB will no longer produce or support its members’ use of DECs.

DEC stands for Daily Effective Circulation and is the average number of persons, in cars or other vehicles, passing and potentially exposed to an advertising display for either 12 hours (un-illuminated - 6:00am to 6:00pm), 18 hours (illuminated - 6:00am to 12:00 midnight) or 24 hours.

For 75 years, out-of-home media buyers and sellers have used DEC as the main metric when trying to measure audience.

But that’s changing.

As a useful and more relevant alternative, TAB Out of Home ratings measure impressions: the number of people that actually look at an out-of-home ad. DECs only measures audience or number of people who pass by the advertising structure. Above all, TAB Out of Home ratings give the industry an audience measurement system that is equivalent to metrics used by other media, including unit-by-unit demographics.

According to talking points provided by TAB, TAB is eliminating use of DECs because they caused confusion in the marketplace and slowed the industry-wide adoption of TAB Out of Home Ratings.

Joe Philport, President & CEO of TAB, published a letter in the Outdoor Advertising Association of America’s newsletter which he states:

“We know that legacy DECs have never been widely ac­cepted by the advertising community. That is why it is so critical that the entire industry embrace the standard use of TAB OOH Ratings. We have already seen these ratings used by hundreds of media plan­ners throughout the country. The sooner our entire industry transitions to the con­sistent use of these ratings, the sooner more advertisers will truly value OOH as an audience-driven medium.”

TAB Out of Home Ratings are now available for the following Out of Home media formats: bulletins, posters, junior posters, bus shelters, walls, kiosks, urban panels and digital billboards.

Relevant specifications include:

• Audiences for billboards, posters, junior posters, transit shelters and phone kiosks
• Geographically sensitive reach & frequency
• Granular detail, reporting individual out of home units in over 200 DMAs
• Detailed demographic data comparable to other media
• True commercial ratings based on people who see the advertising

Here at SRDS, we’re curious about how our out-of-home planners and buyers feel about this change. What’s your take?

One question that I regularly receive from SRDS.com users is, "How can I get exactly what I’m looking for in my search results?"

More often than not, the answer lies in forgetting to use the very powerful filtering options.

Here’s an analogy. Think of SRDS.com as you would a typical consumer retail website, like BestBuy.com.

If you’re looking to purchase a new TV from Best Buy, for example, your first step will probably be to visit Best Buy’s website. Once you’re there, you’ll have to make a decision. Do you already know what sort of TV you’re looking for or are you starting from scratch? If you have a few ideas, then probably wouldn’t want to just search “television” or click to look at all 200 TVs.  

No, to make sure you’re using your time wisely and getting the right results, you would want to filter!

Maybe you want a 72-inch or a Sony, for instance. On Best Buy’s website you can filter by a variety of options for TVs, such as size, brand, price, etc. Once you’ve determined the filters you’d like to put in place, then you’d look at the handful of TVs that fit your criteria.

Think of SRDS.com in that same way.

If you have an idea of what you’re looking for, you probably wouldn’t just do an open search for “beauty.” That would give you pages and pages of relevant, but ultimately not useful, results.  

Instead, I would recommend that you go to the left side of the page to the filter section. From there, you can filter by media, by market, by class, or the other filters that apply to that specific media.

Whether you do an open search or a database search, the filters are going to not only narrow your results so that they more closely meet your criteria, but they can also be used to broaden your results so you can see what else is out there.

So when in doubt: filter, filter, filter!

Whenever we have a new employee starting at Kantar Media SRDS, I make sure to spend some time introducing them to SRDS.com, much like I do with our users.

As the training went on, I kept referring to the media in SRDS listings as being “ad-supported” and she finally stopped me and said "What do you mean by ad-supported?"

Her question surprised me because I use that phrase all the time and it never occurred to me that someone might not understand what it means. To me, when a media outlet is “ad-supported,” that simply means that it accepts advertising.

Here at SRDS, we vet all of the 100,000+ listings we have to make sure they accept advertising before they are listed in the database. That’s one of the big bonuses of using SRDS—you don't have to spend your time trying to find out if a media outlet you Googled actually accepts advertising! We do it for you.

So next time you hear “ad-supported,” think SRDS!

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. 

Gain an understanding of the marketing trends driving one of the highest spending sectors in the media landscape. Over the past dozen years, financial services companies have pursued new innovations and aggressive marketing campaigns to combat a recession and historical financial crisis. Confronted with increased competition, federal regulation, and turbulent market conditions, these marketers have adapted their strategies and messaging to echo the realities faced by millions of Americans today.

Topics covered will include:

• Ad spend breakdown by advertiser, category, and media (Syndicated, Network, Cable & Spot TV; Newspapers; Magazines: Radio: Outdoor) 
• Overview of financial services marketing by category, including insurance, consumer banking, credit card, and investment & retirement products
• Best practices for television advertising, digital marketing, and creative messaging

Presenters: 

• Richard Fielding - Chief Client Officer, Kantar Media North America
• Julie Liesse - Reporter, Advertising Age

Financial Services: Navigating Rough Seas

Thursday, October 25, 2012 • 12:00 - 1:00PM ET

Register today!

The Financial Services industry spent over $10 billion on advertising last year and is a critical driver of our economy.

As part of Kantar Media, we're pleased to offer you a complimentary copy of Ad Age's latest TrendReport, Financial Services Marketing, featuring insights into marketing and advertising trends for this influential sector.

• How much the financial services sector spends on advertising media, including overall spending for the past decade; spending by type of media; and spending by category and by advertiser;
• What impact political advertising featuring financial issues and companies is having on the industry;
• How prominent television campaigns from companies like Chase and Geico are performing over time; and
• The new role online shopping is playing in helping banks acquire new customers  

The Ad Age TrendReport is available for download today!

(The ARF is also hosting a webcast to review the results of this research on Thursday, October 25, at noon Eastern if you'd like to register.)

Enjoy!

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.

 

Newspaper media advertising continues to be at the heart of local market media plans, but the landscape changes quickly and can be hard to keep up with. Whether you are basing your analyses on Metros, Micros or DMAs, Circulation 2013 from SRDS (available this month) provides an in-depth view of which newspapers papers circulate in each area, with updated circulation and market data.