Over the past few years, Mobile phones are becoming popular channel for marketing and advertisements. Being an essential part of daily life, mobile phone facilitates advertisement to reach his target audiences almost anytime, anywhere. Another advantage is that each marketing advertisement can be target to individual’s profile. Depending on market and consumers requirement, shape of mobile marketing also changes. Here we will see what different types of mobile advertisements are available.Text Messages:This is the simple and most popular form of mobile marketing. Mobile advertisement reaches to his audience in form of a simple text message using SMS (Short Message Service) or CBS (Cell Broadcast Service).I still remember a message from leading book store, “Want latest Harry potter book? Subscribe now by replying yes”. Another example you must have seen during cricket/sports tournaments,” send CKRT for news on “. This form of advertising is equivalent to e-mail marketing and have the same issue of SPAM.Multimedia Messaging Services: Limitation of SMS is that it only supports text. MMS advertisement can also contain Image/Audio/video and these contents can be arranged in a timed slideshow. Nearly all phones come with MMS capability of sending/receiving MMS. Apple’s iPhone is an exception for MMS, as it doesn’t support MMS functionality. These messages can be targeted to individual audience as well as group of similar interest people. Again messaging advertisement comes with size limitation.On-demand Multimedia content: Demand of multimedia content such as images/video/games/ring tones is increasing with availability of powerful multimedia capability enables phone. And thus enabling vendors to use this opportunity to penetrate the market and connect to his audiences. Example of these advertisement are ‘messages before or after any video’, ‘Ads strip below/top of Image/video/games ‘, ‘logos, service info integrated into game content’, ‘Full-page ad image between game phases’. Nowadays promotion of movies and albums are also happening on mobiles.Web based Advertisement: The internet is reaching into the phone through WAP. Our phones are becoming an active node of internet and soon it will outnumber the internet users who use PC. Advertising on web pages specifically meant for access by mobile devices and it is becoming a popular trend in mobile marketing. These ads are exposed to user on a web page in form of images, links, banners etc.Google, Yahoo, and other major mobile content providers have been selling advertising placement on their properties. These web pages and ads are compatible to mobile web browsers and thus provide advertisers a way to reach mobile customers easily. Now media brands are deploying portals which are not only for browsing but also gives engaging experience. Example ‘preview before buy’ feature.Advertisement using Bluetooth/Infrared: Bluetooth and infrared are cost free wireless communication technologies. Using Bluetooth different vendors send their mobile content to buyers. These technologies have limitation with distance, so vendors normally installed Bluetooth/Infrared enabled devices and contact users for mobile contents. Here these technologies require user’s permission so this advertisement cannot be targeted for broadcast. Games/images/audio/videos are transfer to audience with their permission. Although this is not very popular way of advertisement but it is very effective. ValueFirst Connect conducted Bluetooth marketing for Tata Sumo Grande in India.Location Based Services:Location Based service (LBS) are offered by operators as a way to send the information requested by user based on their current location. With greater data rates and better data services, subscribers are increasingly using LBS applications.Think about the scenario; LBS subscriber requested information about all food joints in a particular locality. Operator will provide details or all restaurants/cafes near to that place. This is nothing but a custom advertising. Customer will get information and Brands will get a medium to attract a customer. This advertisement can be text based, banner based or icon based depending upon user subscription.Miscellaneous: Mobile coupons, short codes, keywords are other different types of advertisement to target consumers. Mobile coupons are just like normal coupons expect available on phone. They are targeted by individual preferences and locations, thus producing a greater return.Gartner predicts that the mobile advertising market will grow from £535 million last year to surpass $2.7 billion in 2008 and $12.8 billion by 2011. Such promising growth attracts more and more marketers towards mobile marketing and making way for more and more advertisements. Mobiles phones enable a two way communication advertising between marketer and customers. Let’s wait what other types of interactive advertisement are coming up for customers.

When taking a road trip to a new destination, smart travelers invest preparation time to identify the best route, make note of rest stops, research hotels and restaurants that satisfy their needs and budgets, check weather conditions, and so on. In other words, they have a thoughtfully developed plan before they go.Their plan may change along the way based on opportunities or circumstances beyond their control. Yet, they are equipped to effectively handle the unforeseen and make the most of their situation.For marketing achievement, you’ve got to have a road map to reach your destination. A carefully researched and developed plan, with quantifiable objectives and measurement systems, is essential to success. Without a plan, you won’t know how to get where you want to go — and you may not even know when you’ve arrived.To help with your planning process, here are the essential elements that every marketing plan should have. The more detail you provide in your plan, the greater precision in your execution. And that leads to better outcomes.EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThink of this section as the “cliff-note” version of your plan with emphasis on strategies designed to meet your objectives. Write this section as the last thing you do before plan completion.OBJECTIVESEach objective needs to be specific and measurable based on the mission and goals of your organization. Here are some examples of quantifiable objectives and how success is measured.
Increase gross sales by $450,000 by June 30, representing a 10% increase over prior year. (Measurement: June 30 sales reports)
Achieve a customer retention rate of 80% by year end. (Measurement: Customer retention reports)
Increase awareness and recall by 5 points among three target audience segments. (Measurement: Monthly customer awareness research)
SITUATION ANALYSISThis section discusses your organization and the environment or marketplace in which you compete. It should include the following.
Background on your organization and product, mission, descriptions of current product and/or services, performance results, market share, strategic alliances, etc.
Current and future competition with information on proven and forecasted impact
How you are perceived by your customers relative to the competition
Current customer information (i.e. number, description, spending levels, motivations, etc.)
A list of your strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (also referred to as a SWOT analysis)
TARGET AUDIENCESFully understanding your new and existing customers – and their needs and desires – is at the core of every successful marketing plan. For each target audience, detail in your plan demographic information, buying behavior, motivation, price sensitivities and other pertinent information related to your product or service.This section provides the high level strategic view or approach you will use to achieve your objectives. Be sure to include specific information on:
Product or Service Strategies — including changes and enhancements
Pricing Strategies – detailed by target audiences and competitors
Distribution Strategies – channels or methods by which you deliver and make your product available to your customers
Marketing Strategies – your approach to communicating and getting the message heard by your target audiences
MARKETING ACTIONSThis section drills down to specific initiatives that relate to your marketing strategies. For example, you will want to include details on marketing methods (i.e. web, print and broadcast advertising, public relations, promotions, telemarketing, direct sales, referral programs, partnership programs, etc.), timing, budgets, and other key information that relates to the implementation of each action step that supports each strategy.OTHER INFORMATIONYou may want to add an appendix or other categories to your plan for key information that adds value to your plan document. For example:
Short and long-term financial projections
Calendar of action steps
Research data that supports your strategies
Organizational charts
List of suppliers or vendors that will support your initiatives

At the end of last year, BSkyB demoed what could well be a large part of the future of sports broadcasting: the transmission of sporting events in 3D.The system, which is currently being developed, uses an ordinary Sky+ box to decode the two separate images required to create the three-dimensional effect. Users then simply view the screen through a pair of 3D glasses.Sky has already tested the technology at live sports events including Ricky Hatton’s victory over Juan Lazcano and Liverpool’s Champions League encounter with Marseille at Anfield in November of last year.3D technology has already been adopted in Hollywood, with a number of films being filmed and released in 3D. Many have predicted that 3D HD television is the next logical step in the evolution of broadcasting.Despite being able to use their current satellite receiver, users will be forced to upgrade their television sets. However, manufacturers believe that new 3D TVs will cost no more than a standard HD-ready plasma set.The 3D television set that BSkyB used in its demonstration at its headquarters in Osterley, London, currently retails at over £2,000, but experts have predicted that the price of the technology will drop significantly, especially if it proves popular.The British broadcaster described ‘Sky+ 3D’ as “a vision of the future” as the company continues to develop the system, which would involve Sky having to use adapt or upgrade their cameras for 3D at live events.”From our point of view this is just the next stage of our innovation plan following on from Sky+, from HD and now to 3D is the way we see things might go in the future,” said BSkyB’s Head of Product, Design and Innovation, Brian Lenz.”What we’re looking at today is firstly that we can do it, and we think we can do it and at a quality level that makes it interesting to begin to look at whether there is an appetite for it from the consumer.”The implementation of 3D TV in viewers’ homes is clearly still a number of years away, however as Sky have demonstrated through the trials, watching your favourite team in three dimensions from the comfort of the sofa may well be an everyday occurrence in the fairly near future.However, whether viewers will be enticed to fork out on a new television set surely depends on the quality of the final product on offer.

Nearly any author or publisher can promote a book to bestseller status. All it takes is a little patience, a good plan, and a whole lot of following up on the details.Since every book is different, and there are many market niches, it is impossible to use a “one size fits all” approach to book promotion. However, there are some strategies that work for most authors, most of the time.Here’s three we’ve used again and again to promote books.1. Pick a market and FOCUS When asked who their book should be sold to, most authors give a one word answer: “anyone”… or, at best, “anyone” in some broad range. The truth is, no book will be sold to everyone.The more you focus your niché, the better chance you’ll have or reaching book buyers. It’s like being a big fish in a little pond. You cannot target too small of a market segment. If you can target all the 34 year old work-at-home dads that like to wear hats, go for it. In fact, make that 34 year old work-at-home dads that to wear hats and read. You can always add 35 year olds, small business, single guys in ski masks later.2. Look like you are in the business. When you identify yourself a self publisher or first time author, that exactly how you’ll be treated. I’d never suggest misleading the bookstores, distributors, media and reading public, just tell the truth about the yourself in advance.Do you plan on releasing a series of books? Will you be building to a national media tour? Put that in your plans and tell people that. Then follow up with the things that real business people do, business cards, web site, professional phone answering.It’s not a bluff.. you really do become your plan.3. Make every story about your story. When talking to the press, remember that the media doesn’t want to hear about you and your book. They really want to get viewers and listeners so they can get better ratings that will keep their jobs and sell advertising sponsors.How do they do this? By providing valuable information that their audience is looking for. So make sure you tell them that you have what they want.When you pitch a story, make it about current events, popular topics and the target audience of the particular show you want to be on. If you have valuable information they are looking for, they’ll book you.Then, once your on the air, don’t give answers like “it’s all in my book”. Remember, it’s all about the them and their audience. Offer as much content as you possibly can in the time allotted. Answer their questions, and they’ll want to have to back.The more you give, the more they’ll want.In my next article, I’ll discuss the final two ways that you can sell your books – using direct marketing and endorsement techniques. See part two for more details!

Are you looking for that dream job in radio broadcasting, well you are not alone and the competition is very tough indeed. In fact it is so tough and such an insiders game that it often pays to drop names into your resume. Also time at a station is important and also it makes sense to also list the stats for that station if they were significant or the amount of listener-ship growth during your tenure there. If you are seeking a job as a talk show host then you need to also consider that a degree in psychology might also be relevant.In the entertainment business it is often seen that people are black listed due to personality flaws or the ego, which sets in due to the nature of the industry. Radio General Managers need to know that you are a team player. Hopping around from station to station and city to city too often can cause one to believe that you are indeed problematic and perhaps not a team player.When designing a resume for a radio-broadcasting job, you should submit a tape of yourself on the air live along with your resume and also list the reasons for leaving each location or radio station for the next. Otherwise red flags pop-up and that can make your resume and application hit the round file faster than your head can spin. Remember this is a competitive industry indeed. Consider all this in 2006.

Advertising is the most visible form of marketing. It is one the most effective marketing tools you can use to build a share of the prospect’s mind. If you know exactly what you want to gain from your advertising, where to direct your message, and how to say what you want your audience to know, your advertising will be effective.Unfortunately advertising is also one the most misunderstood forms of marketing. Many ads you see today are full of catchy slogans, an endorsing celebrity, or the ultimate in graphic design and animation. The ads tell people how great and wonderful the business is. They are designed to keep the compnay’s name in front of the prospects, and ultimately fail.If your advertising is going to be successful you have to understand that people don’t care how great your business is. All they care about is what unique benefit your product or service offers them that others don’t. How are you going to improve their lives? How are you going to make their lives easier? Are you going to make them richer?They want to know how you’re going to enhance the quality, enjoyment, and the profitability of their lives. Very few ads today address that. People don’t care what you want. To be effective your advertising must address what benefits you’re rendering the prospect.However, they do want to know that you’re qualified to help them. So, in your advertising you need to establish credibility. If you’ve got expertise and people don’t appreciate your knowledge and expertise, find a way to explain it. If, in fact, you’ve been in the field longer than anyone else, you’ve received a higher education honor, or you’re a dry cleaner who specializes cleaning very expensive material, you need to tell people about it.It is very important that you put your advertising in the right place. With direct mail that means carefully selected mailing lists. With print and broadcast advertising, it means putting your messages where your prospects will most likely see or hear them.For example, if you are selling fishing equipment, it wouldn’t do you much good to advertise in a magazine for racing cars. If you sell mutual funds it wouldn’t do you much good to advertise in a magazine for antiques and collectibles, unless you knew that a large number of those readers were also interested in mutual funds.What you say, and how you say it, is every bit as important as where you say it. To bring in profitable new business, your print ads, once you’ve placed them where your prospect will see them, should include four important elements:1. A compelling headline, one that catches the attention of the readers and motivates them to read your entire message. It is very important to have a powerful headline on the home page of your Web site and in all of your Internet ads.2. A specific offer attractive enough to inspire people to respond immediately.3. A convincing explanation of the benefits customers will receive by purchasing your product or service. This reinforces the headline and offer.4. Clear, precise information on how to order from you. Always ask for an immediate order in every ad you place, and make sure you tell your readers exactly how to order.You never know how well you advertising is actually doing unless you test. You won’t know which headline pulls best for you until you test one headline against another. Nor will you know which offer works best for you until you test one offer against another.Keep in mind that there are basic power words that will help you get better results with your ads. Some of these words are: “free,” “easy,” “amazing,” and “bargain.” When you include any of these words in your ads it will almost always increase your response.When you’re writing an ad it is helpful to think of your prospects as nice people you want to please. By doing this it will help you stress the specific benefits you can bring into people’s lives. It will help you advertise from the customer’s point of view, the only point of view that counts.When you advertise, your message will miss its mark if it doesn’t address the most important interests and desires of your readers, listeners, or viewers. So, before you even start to work on composing an ad, ask yourself, “What is it that will most likely get the undivided attention of the people I’m trying to reach?”Find out what people in your target market need or want the most. An easy way to get this information is to survey your target market. You never want to make risky assumptions about people’s interests or simply guess. If you do, it is easy to loose thousands of dollars with your advertising.Are they the most interested in getting the lowest possible price? Is it really what they want most? Is it a feeling of personal security? Is it financial gain? Is it status? Is it freedom from pain? Is it something that will quickly improve their physical appearance? Is it simple fun, or sheer novelty?Whatever “it” is, make “it” the focal point of your message. With print advertising, put “it” in the headline of your ad, and then let “it” echo and resonate throughout the supporting copy, all the way down to the order coupon at the foot of the ad.This is also true of effective Internet ads. The “it” should be in the headline of your ad and resonate throughout your supporting copy to get the target audience to click on your ad and go to your Web site. And once a prospect gets to your site make sure the “it’ is in the headline of your home page and resonates through your supporting copy, and to your offer.Let me also mention two words that you should not use in your advertising, “quality” and “courtesy.”Quality is a vague word, as well as being something that every business claims to have. Instead of simply saying you have “quality,” spell out the benefits you can deliver that prove your high quality.Courtesy is a weak word standing alone, because customers expect to be treated courteously. Instead, cite specific, courteous things you do, like free delivery.You can build irresistible qualities into any ad, radio spot, or TV commercial. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling perfumes or vacuum cleaners, if you stress the greatest possible benefit to a prospect, you will get their attention and very likely their order.Copyright©2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

This new solution offerred by voice broadcasting telemarketing is that 90% or more of the voice sales messages are delivered directly to the prospect’s phone or answering.Another advantage is that because of the home business boom most prospects not only have phones but also have online connections with web pages and email. So we could say the marriage between offline and online marketing now complete.Voice broadcasting – Live transfer calling enables Mortgage Brokers, Mortgage Loan Officers, Insurance Professionals and MLM distributors involved with the PAS System, 1-Step System, Emerald Passport, Gold Calling a powerful new way to have their leads call them daily in real time at any speed they want.This new convergence technology means that what email lead generation could do in the past – Live Transfer Leads systems can do now, and much better than email advertising because it is more personable, can convert High-Ticket sales and reach 90% or more of the targeted market.The really important questions when choosing a voice broadcasting service that can potentially boost
your R.O.I. is can you control the amount of and speed of your leads; and are the targeted lists
available and uploaded at no charge.About the Author:Copyright 2006 — Low Cost Traffic Voice Broadcasting.Article may be re-printed as long as author and text links remain. Voice Broadcasting Boom – The Internet’s New Email. LowCostTraffic.com

After listening to the local radio stations recently and having an insight into “why they do what they do”, one message comes through clear as a bell to me.Panic. Show me a group that does multiple format changes over a short period of time, and I’ll show you a group that is trying to fix a sales staff problem with a programming solution.In all my years in radio management and ownership I’ve never seen that strategy work. Mainly because it fails to address the real problems that a station usually has in this situation: Sales staff turnover and the inability to recruit and retain good people.The overall outlook for the radio business in 2009 is very bleak, but radio’s problems have been coming for some time, i.e. the “lack of talent and creativity” which is an artifact of consolidation. The ownership groups who have been the biggest contributors to the lack of talent problem are also facing today the consequences pertaining to their ill-fated consolidations.I used to call it radio’s equivalent of “eating their young”.And the bad news keeps on coming. In a recent story Wachovia broadcast analyst Marci Ryvicker predicts a 13% decline for the radio biz in 2009, and she goes on to say that even a 13% drop may be “too optimistic”.Furthermore her comments imply that radio broadcasting companies will be more worried about selling off and bankruptcy in 2009 than generating revenues. If you thought the radio business had lost it’s fun prior to 2009, you ain’t seen nothing yet.When you put together the declining trends that the radio business has been facing for several years, a shrinking talent pool, and combine that with hard economic times the result may be a “perfect storm” for some local radio stations in 2009.

Broadcasters, marketers and media buyers agree that, because we now live in a video-on-demand world in which consumers control what they watch and when, the broadcast advertising model is broken. And while the media industry is still sorting through their predicament on television, perhaps the even more troubling news is that, due to the tough economic conditions the world faces going into 2009, all indications are that online ad spending will dip over the next year. What can media companies and advertisers do in this floundering ad ecosystem? The short answer: they will have to change the way advertising is bought and sold, measured and delivered.Traditional television audiences are eroding. In October, the four biggest broadcast networks reported declines in audiences between the ages of 18 and 49. Many analysts believe that those eyeballs are moving from television to online. Advertising Age, in a study on social networking and its impact on television, found that 25% of users of social networking sites like Facebook indicated they were spending less time watching TV because of the time they were spending online. And more than a third of all 12 – 64 year olds online indicated they used social networking sites regularly. With audiences being siphoned away from television, and using time-shifting digital video recorder (DVR) technology like TiVo to skip ads while they are watching TV, advertising dollars to be had in the broadcast medium are on the decline.So media companies should simply follow their audiences online, right? The picture is not that clear. The current economic climate is eroding ad spending across the board. TechCrunch indicates that in the third quarter, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL collectively eked out only a 0.6% increase in online advertising revenue quarter over quarter. MediaPost.com reports that, while online ad revenue is up 11% year-to-date, compared to last year’s growth of 26%, growth has all but stalled in 2008. They predict that 2009 will be the first flat year for online ad spending since 2003. Others offer an even gloomier outlook. In a survey of attendees at AdTech New York, private equity firm Halyard Capital found most predicted digital-marketing budgets would be down 10-20% in 2009.And even worse news for media companies: rates that advertisers are paying for digital ad space, as traditionally measured by cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), are trending downward. According to research by Morgan Stanley, the average CPM for a banner ad has dropped from $3 to $1 over the past decade. Consensus seems to be this is because of the proliferation of available inventory (places on the internet to display these ads). In China, advertisers are paying as little as $.05 CPM because of the rapid explosion of inventory. And MediaPost predicts that this decline in the rates advertisers are paying will extend to online video advertising in 2009, which is an area that has been enjoying a two year spike in CPMs.But what about those social networks to which television viewers are being drawn? Do they offer hope? Halyard Capital found that 68% of those surveyed believed social networks are in the “strongest position to expand” among the alternative marketing channels over the next two years. Advertisers see vast potential in social networking as a channel in which to better target advertising to consumers because of all of the personal information being shared. And content providers see opportunities to tie together traditional media and social networking. Broadcasters are starting to incorporate community features into their online video players. Companies like Joost are tapping into social networks like Facebook for social video sharing.At first glance, then, social networks seem to offer promise as an advertising haven in an economic downturn. Sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube boast a tremendous number of pageviews, a higher than average number of pageviews per user, and a longer average time-on-site. In a CPM-driven world, this massive pool of pageviews represents a virtual treasure trove of “inventory,” because of the sheer number of eyeballs. The problem, however, is that the data shows that the actual performance of ads on these social networks is absolutely dismal. Click-through rates on these sites are 10 to 100 times lower than the average for banner ads, which were already in the 0.1 percent to 1 percent range.According to Dr. Augustine Fou, Senior VP of Digital Strategy at MRM Worldwide, a digital marketing agency, the very nature of social networking sites make them unsuitable for traditional advertising:”While the largest Web 1.0 sites (Yahoo, CNET, New York Times, etc.) were content sites that aggregated massive audiences and supported large numbers of pageviews, the largest Web 2.0 sites are social networking sites. The nature of these two types of sites is very different. Users go to Web 1.0 sites and portals to read content or do e-mail by themselves. Users go to Web 2.0 social networks to interact with others and are usually so immersed in socializing they are even less likely to see, let alone act upon, ads, despite the large number of pageviews generated per session. This may partially explain the dramatically lower click rates for ads on social networking sites. “Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at Procter & Gamble Co., postulates that social networks are not only ineffective channels for advertising, they are wholly inappropriate places to market in which attempts to do so alienate consumers. McConnell poses the question to advertisers: “What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?” He makes the point that “social media” is not really “media” at all. Media is a one-way communication that contains blank spaces that constitute inventory for advertising. Social networking is a dialog between consumers, in which advertising becomes disruptive. Consumers were not intending to create media, they were intending to talk to someone.If television ad revenue is on the decline, digital ad spending on the whole is trending downward, and social networks are failing to deliver on their promise to reach consumers, what can advertisers and media companies do to weather the storm? Advertisers must ensure that they are getting the best return on investment they can on their remaining ad spending dollars. Instead of paying for the biggest number of eyeballs they can, they should focus on advertising best positioned to make a conversion. Online, this likely signals a needed shift from a CPM model, where advertisers pay for the number of folks who will see an ad, to performance-based measurements. An ad model based on performance would have advertisers paying only for clicks or other targeted consumer actions.McConnell predicts that as the economy worsens, the fortune of performance-based advertising will rise as impression-based models falter. “‘Spray and pray’ is a little harder to do when you’re under economic pressure,” he said. “So performance-based advertising will gain share over CPM.”And according to Dr. Fou, “in the Web 2.0 advertising landscape, many advertisers have already moved beyond the cost-per-impression (CPM) model to a more measurable and accountable cost-per-click (CPC) model (e.g., Google Adwords) in which they only pay when users click through, no matter how many times the ad is displayed. Some have even moved to the next step of cost-per-action (CPA), where the advertiser does not pay until the user does the desired action-e.g., make a purchase. “How can media companies respond to the demand for performance-based advertising? It is no longer enough to simply make inventory available, now these companies must ensure that the advertisements will be effective. This means that it will be more important than ever to target the right advertising to the right consumer at the right time. And media companies will have to work directly with the advertisers to ensure that advertising is tightly integrated with the content in a way that provides the right context and timing for the message.One channel that offers some interesting promise for targeting of content is mobile. 62% of AdTech’s attendees responding to the survey by Halyard cited mobile as the advertising platform that will grow the most in the next two years. Mobile has the potential to target a consumer at exactly the right time and the right place. Imagine walking into a drug store and receiving a coupon by text message on your mobile phone for an over-the-counter pain reliever. That is the power of location-based advertising, made possible by the proliferation of global positioning system (GPS) technology on mobile phones, that allows providers to know exactly where you are. This is not science fiction – companies like Loopt and NAVTEQ are already starting to serve up location-based ads on a handset near you.And while social networks may not prove to be the holy grail in providing a channel for advertising, their vast potential for understanding and targeting consumers may still be the key to effective advertising in a performance-based world. Dr. Fou explains that “By redefining social networks as ‘the collective conversations and actions of customers, evidenced online,’ marketers can instead use social networks as places to do research-e.g., test messages with real customers in a real environment, listen to how customers describe their products or services to peers, or get ideas for new products or how to improve current products. And finally, advertisers can identify influencers, mavens or ‘heavies’ on social networks (the ones who are most active in talking, posting or sharing) and let them beta-test and write about their product or service.”Not only can social networks help advertisers better identify, understand and influence their targets, they have the potential to exponentially extend their reach. According to Advertising Age, there is “emerging evidence that mapping the online relationships among consumers — creating so-called social graphs — can be just as valuable as traditional targeting and segmentation in predicting how people will respond to marketing messages.” The idea is to not only market to your identified target consumer, but market to the other people in that consumer’s social network. The theory is that advertisers should associate “consumers who are already connected and share values and beliefs, a concept called homophily.” Yahoo and several small start-ups are starting to prove out this theory.Finally, there may still be hope for television. In early November, Dish Network struck a deal with advertising technology firm Invidi that involves the creation of “advanced receivers” capable of “targeted advertising delivery” and “dynamic commercial insertion.” According to Advertising Age, what this means is “ather than bombarding millions of TV viewers with the same ads for things many of them may not be looking to buy, marketers could in the next two to three years send different ads to different households — making certain, for example, that Procter & Gamble wouldn’t have to pay for Pampers ads watched by a couple with no wee tykes and General Motors wouldn’t have to show ads for its Hummer vehicles to a house full of Prius enthusiasts.” Industry experts believe that if consumers are presented with highly relevant advertising, they are far less inclined to skip the ad on their DVR.

Today I received a question from a reader who asks; “I have 3 computers within my WLAN, should SSID broadcasting be enabled or disabled?” That’s an excellent question and one that is often very misleading. Let me start by stating a simple fact. Disabling your Secure set identifier does not hide your network.This is a common misconception that goes hand in hand with MAC address filtering which is also useless in deterring a hacker. Let me explain a little here. SSID brodcasting was never meant to be hidden. Its purpose is to essentially distinguish one network from another. When you disable your secure set identifier from broadcasting, technically all you are doing is hiding your WLAN beaconing on the Access Point. In other words, you are preventing the average person from seeing your WLAN. But there are 4 other protocols that also broadcast your network name, Probe requests; probe responses, association requests, and re-association requests.So unless you have absolutely no activity on your network, which is highly unlikely, then it is impossible to hide your SSID. A hacker can easily find your hidden network within minutes. You may be asking yourself, okay so disabling broadcasting does not hide my network but in most cases it prevents my neighbor from stealing my Internet, so what does it hurt? Well that’s what encryption is for. WPA and WPA2 prevent unauthorized access to your WLAN, thus preventing loss of data and bandwidth, so use encryption. If possible do not use WEP encryption. All that does is deter a hacker for 10 minutes or so. What does it hurt? Well, a hidden SSID can make wireless LANs less user friendly, it also forces your wireless devices to probe for your network, as well as cause some network devices from connecting at all. Another downside to cloaking your network is that it prevents others from knowing what channel your network is using.If many computers use the same channel then network performance could suffer from Co-channel interference or CCI, which is interferance between radio transmisions. To summarize, I would personally leave SSID broadcast on. If a hacker is within range of your network chances are he will find your Access point regardless if your network name is broadcasting or not. It will also make your life easier if you need to allow another computer access to your network. I hope this article clears up any misunderstandings you may have had regarding SSID broadcast.