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.

Conditional Formatting is a powerful feature in Microsoft Excel. I use it regularly while working on spreadsheets jam-packed with data. It allows you to change the appearance of a cell based on its value or another cell's value. You create certain conditions, and when those conditions are met, Excel applies the formatting that you choose.

Here’s a quick trick for how you can use Conditional Formatting to find duplicate values in a list of cells:

1. Highlight the column of cells that have the duplicate values
2. Click on the Conditional Formatting on the tool bar
3. Click Highlight Cells Rules
4. Click on Duplicate Values
5. In the Duplicate Values box make sure the first drop down box is marked Duplicate
6. Then in the second drop down choose the format color and style you want – click ok

Looking for more quick Excel tips?

• 5 Useful Excel Keyboard Shortcuts
• 3 More Tips to Make Excel 2010 Work For You
• 3 Excel Tips to Help Media Planners Organize Contacts & Ad Info

For years, many businesses focused their marketing and advertising efforts at a national level. But with the rise of social media, search and mobile, the game has changed. It’s clear that the key to cost-effectively reaching your best prospects is to laser-target campaigns and go local. In fact, an updated BIA/Kelsey forecast expects advertising revenue for all local media to reach $147.1 billion by 2016, at a 2.1% annual growth rate.

On the surface it may seem difficult to adapt a national marketing plan for a local market, but the creative itself doesn't necessarily need to change too much. It's all about determining how to best make it resonate for that audience and more importantly, where to place it so it reaches your target audience. Many marketers use SRDS.com to get the data they need to make informed decisions about local advertising opportunities. Here's why:

1. Any Media Type: Access detailed information on every available media property that accepts advertising, including websites, newspapers, radio stations, TV & cable stations, magazines and out-of-home opportunities.
2. Every Market: Conduct a DMA drilldown with comprehensive local media data for all 210 DMAs across the U.S.
3. Background Check: Research new markets with consumer demographic data.
4. Due Diligence: Even if you work with an outside agency, guarantee that they are selecting the right ad opportunities for your brand in markets you may be unfamiliar with.
5. Actionable Data: Listings include all the data points you need to compile a plan, including rates, contact info, audience metrics and much more.
6. Smart Spending: Small businesses, retailers and restaurants all use SRDS.com to find innovative and affordable ad placements that go beyond the budget-breaking TV buy.
7. Ask Around: Don’t miss out on this unique service. Marketers from Kohls, Dr Pepper, Crate & Barrel, Shoe Carnival and possibly your direct competitors already rely on SRDS.

See SRDS in action and let us know how we can help with your local marketing needs.

Media buyers/planners and media companies are increasingly promoting the efficiency of the video media kit. In the SRDS planning platform,  you may have noticed that we’ve added more video media kits in the past few months. Here’s why.

Media buyers are often too busy to meet face-to-face with media companies and don’t want to request and read through pages of media kits. A two-minute video media kit trumps a 25-page print media kit every time.

On the media side, companies are increasingly using videos to deliver a consistent, focused message in an engaging and dynamic medium. Brand portfolios are more complex now than ever. Most media brands have multiple formats. There’s a website, an app, a tablet publication and the list goes on and on. With a video media kit, publishers can give a quick topline overview of all their advertising and marketing opportunities. It’s like bringing an editor and publisher on every sales call.

SRDS Video Media Kits work by pulling a media brand’s existing video into a simple interface that appears in their SRDS listing and search results. A brand’s SRDS Video Media Kit can even be used on the brand’s own website and social media channels.

Here are five of our newest video media kits:

1. WNBC NYC
2. Campus Media Group
3. BH&G
4. CRN
5. RMI Direct

Media Companies: Do you have a good video aimed at media buyers you want in your SRDS listing?

If you’re interested in adding this service or other SRDS Marketing Services to your SRDS profile, contact Tara Clifford.

Marketers and agencies must drastically transform their mobile advertising strategy in 2013 if they want to succeed.

According to a new study from Forrester, seven out of ten mobile users say that automatically served in-app advertisements are disruptive. Two-thirds of respondents label these ads as annoying and 88% say they aren’t engaging.

This study is one of many I’ve seen this year confirming that mobile ads aren’t resonating with consumers. Most of these reports call out mobile ads for not being relevant, interesting or valuable to the user. For example, in November, we posted about an Adobe survey, which found that 45% of respondents prefer to see an ad in their favorite print magazine versus the 0% that prefers to see an ad in a mobile app.

For agencies and marketers, effectively using mobile advertising is both a major challenge and an opportunity in 2013. Mobile cannot be overlooked. Each brand needs a unique approach on this channel for many reasons, but for starters because it’s here to stay.

Here’s what you need to know to convince execs that a mobile strategy is no longer optional: 

Mobile has quickly become the media platform of choice for Millennials. Smartphones allow us to stay in constant contact with friends and family, have ready access to data and information and be able to be productive or relax at any given moment. If you’re looking to reach Millennials, mobile is the way to do it.

Consumers now use mobile phones to purchase products more than ever. This Cyber Monday, mobile transactions accounted for 22% of online sales, an increase of 100% over last year. Retailers cannot overlook this trend.

The good news is that at the very least, most companies are considering a mobile marketing strategy. Some have actually done a phenomenal job using apps, mobile-optimized websites and smartphone deals to reach consumers. But there’s still a long way to go.

According to the TNS Mobile Life study for 2012, many Chief Marketing Officers say it’s no longer OK for companies and marketers to just watch and wait. Experimentation is central to the mobile approach for many brands, with an emphasis on ‘learning by doing’ across marketing and business operations. Urgency is the keyword here.

In order to stay relevant and reach consumers, marketers and agencies must research, plan, develop and execute on their mobile strategies. And after it’s all said and done, they must find a way to serve users ads that aren’t annoying, obtrusive or irrelevant. It may be tough, but it’s necessary.

Another key point from the Forrester study for marketers/agencies to know is that:

“A significant portion of mobile users were open to mobile ad targeting based upon their personal interests (49%) and current location (43%).”

Consumers tolerate ads that have some sort of tie-in to where they live or what interests them. But with the rise of “Do Not Track” and Ad Choices, which allow users to opt out of behavioral targeting, it might be time for marketers to go back to the drawing board.

One idea, which is already being used at Google (no surprise!), is to treat consumer data as a currency and offer incentives for it. The company Enliken is trying to give users the ability to edit, control and prioritize the data they want advertisers to see, making the data richer and more valuable. If an ad is more relevant to the consumer, it’s not as annoying and can supply the user with information he/she is actually interested in.

But targeted ads still need to look good! Ten years ago, banner ads faced a similar dilemma. They had to back out of the scam-like ads offering free trips to the Bahamas, and start incorporating strong creative, interactive visuals and unique storytelling. Advertisers and marketers should take note.

Those three features, coupled with targeted content, can help elevate mobile to a new level of advertising in the coming years.

How will your mobile strategy evolve in 2013?

After Hurricane Sandy, we have decided to postpone the SRDS Media Mixology event that was originally scheduled for next Tuesday, November 13 at 48 Lounge. We made the decision knowing that so many of our clients are focused on much more serious issues than a party. And since so much of the ad industry was out of commission last week, we know that you’ll be too busy in the office to come. Sorry for any inconvenience; we were looking forward to seeing you! So were our sponsors, SaleSpider and GigaOM.

We are looking to reschedule the event for early 2013, and plan to announce the new date this week.

In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers continue to be with our colleagues, clients, friends and family on the East Coast, as they deal with the aftermath of this devastating storm.

If you're not directly affected by Sandy, but would like to help those who are, please consider donating to the American Red Cross at http://www.redcross.org/.

Should you have any questions or concerns, send us an email or call our Service Center at 800.232.0772 x8019.

Best,
Your friends at SRDS

P.S. If you’re looking for a premium digital publisher that reaches b2b and b2c audience through advertising, social communities, and sponsorships, please contact SaleSpider.com, the largest small business social network.

Update: the next Media Mixology event will be held February 12, 2013.

Can you believe that we’re quickly approaching Thanksgiving and, perhaps equally importantly for marketers and ad agencies, Black Friday?

In October, our rock star SRDS media data experts made more than 2,673 updates to local, b-to-b and consumer media property listings in SRDS.com.

Especially during the holiday season, we understand that it’s critical for you to have up-to-date data for media comparison, advertising rates, and media contact information.

If you have any questions about the data you find in SRDS online, just let us know!

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?

For the first time, the results of the Kantar Media Healthcare Research Non-Journal Media study have been loaded into MARS Medical Online so that you can do an apples-to-apples comparison on reach capabilities of both journals and non-traditional/non-journal media, including outlets like Epocrates, Medscape and Monthly Prescribing Reference.

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?

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.

It was a fun evening with excellent food, good company and great insights. If you attended our Media Mixology event at Epic Restaurant in Chicago, odds are that we caught you on camera.

Check out the pictures from "Integrating Emerging Media into Plans to Leverage Changing Media Habits" over at SRDS.com, and see our "5 Takeaways" from the evening.

If you have any questions for, or would like to join us in thanking, our wonderful sponsors you can contact Jason Boche from re:fuel at 312.525.3090 and Jeremy Speigel from SaleSpider Media at 416.221.0447 x225.

In August, our awesome SRDS media data experts updated over 2,146 local, b-to-b and consumer media property listings in the SRDS media search engine.

We know how important it is for you to have current data for media comparison, advertising rates, and media contact information. If you have any questions about the data you find in SRDS online, just let us know!

Every so often I hear from print or broadcast buyers who are still only using SRDS to look-up contacts. Particularly since the re-launch of reports in June, the majority of buyers using SRDS are using us for much more than look-ups. For instance, do you ever need to collect contact information for Radio or TV Stations in a market or series of markets? How about getting traffic information for TV stations? How about print rates? Or print contacts? Column sizes in Newspaper? 

Before reports, putting this together would have taken hours (at best!), having to manually copy-and-paste the information into a spreadsheet or document. For qualified agency clients with reports enabled, it can take mere minutes. 

Let's try an example. Say you want all the TV stations in the Chicago DMA.

1. Click TV & Cable Media, then select TV Stations
2. Select the Chicago DMA
3. Click "Select All" on each page of your results
4. Click Reports. Choose Contact Report to export topline contact information for these stations to Excel, or Detailed Report to export more station contacts and include traffic detail.

Boom: minutes versus hours! 

You want all Radio stations, TV stations, and newspapers for a market or series of markets?

1. Click Local Media by DMA
2. Select your market (or series of markets)
3. Click Newspapers, Radio, and TV as your media types
4. Click Reports. The only options for all media is Contact Report—for Detailed Report, go to the left side of screen and select each media type and run the Detailed Reports one at a time.

Again, boom! Reports make this possible in minutes instead of hours, whether you're a media planner or a media buyer.

The athletes in London may be making all the headlines with their amazing feats of skill and strength, but it's the SRDS Data Team that we think wins the Gold.

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!

Need an ad hoc competitive search?

A list of journals or websites that you want ranked against a target audience?

Our friends at Kantar Media Healthcare offer Healthcare Research Service Bureau services for these and other projects to get your work done on time and within budget.

We track thousands of products and companies that advertise on professional healthcare websites and in journals, and have audience information on hundreds of journals, websites, portals, and other non-print media.

Take advantage of a 20% discount in June on Service Bureau work ordered and delivered before the end of the month. Contact Bernadette Cognac (847-375-5188) to learn how we can help you with your projects.

I have worked at SRDS for over 13 years, and data has always been a big  part of what I do here. Learning how to quickly manipulate spreadsheets and databases has made my life a lot easier, and while I know that there are all kinds of skill sets when it comes to using different data tools, I wanted to share some of the things that have made my transition from sales support to marketing analyst flow a little smoother. 

When I was in support it was very important for me to organize different pieces of client information in a spreadsheet format.  I spent many hours in the Excel help section and never found an easy way to do many of the simplest things I needed to do.

Since then, I’ve spoken to many young media planners who have told me that having to organize all the contact/advertising info while putting together a media plan can be cumbersome. 

Here are a few Excel 2010 tips that might help with that:

Freezing Panes – when you have a lengthy spreadsheet and you need to scroll down to see more records but still see the top row for column reference:

1. Click underneath the column header row in cell A2
2. Click the “view” tab on the toolbar
3. Click “freeze panes,” then “freeze top row”

Custom Sorting fields by Color – When fields are highlighted by color:

1. Highlight the entire column that you want to sort
2. Click on “home” tab on the tool bar
3. Click on “sort & filter” on tool bar
4. Click “custom sort”
5. Click on “sort on” in middle column and choose by “cell color”
6. Under “Order” Column on the far right, Click on arrow for cell color and choose the color you are looking to sort on and then click ok
7. You will now have all those color coded cells at the top of the spreadsheet.

Removing Duplicate Values in a Column:

1. Select the column that you have duplicate cells in
2. Click on the “data” tab in the tool bar
3. Click on “remove duplicates”
4. In the box down below you will see the columns you highlighted, you need to put a “check mark” in the column you want to DeDup
5. At the top, Check the “my data has headers” box if your spreadsheet has headers
6. Click ok – You will get a box that says how many duplicate values will be removed

These tips have helped me organize data spreadsheets in a timely manner so that I can be more efficient in my job.  I hope they make you more effective in putting together your media plans. More fun data tips to come!

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!