I've been hearing rumors of a very disturbing trend of B2B publishers dropping their BPA Audits. Take a look at almost any trade publication and you can't help but notice the issues are thinner than they were a year ago. I understand that trade publishers, just like many other industries, need to lower operating expenses to survive this economic downturn. However, media professionals rely on third party audits when researching a publication's circulation. Circulation is a big part of what publishers are selling, and the only way I have to be sure that a magazine reaches who I'm trying to reach is through third party audit statements like the BPA.

Without an audit a publication is telling me "BUYER BEWARE". And with tight media budgets that will be the reality during the economy recovery, recommending an unaudited publication is just too risky.
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With the recent demise (and subsequent resurrection) of Industrial Equipment News, I was once again faced with the question, "Is print dead?"

If you're like me, you've probably noticed that magazines are getting thinner. They have fewer editorial stories and ads. As someone who buys print advertising I may be part of the "illness" that is affecting the print industry. Many of my clients are moving out of print to online. Online, with its ability to track impressions and clicks, seems to be the holy grail of advertising, because you only pay for what you get. Google even allows you to pay only when someone clicks on your ad. 

At Godfrey, we continually talk to our clients about thinking like "publishers." We help them develop websites with interesting content that bypasses magazines to reach their targeted audience.

With that said, I still believe print is
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When it comes time for planning media programs, I have the dream that the advertising budget will be large enough to include every single media channel and option that the target audience is using. The reality is, this does not happen. With the murky economic outlook we are currently facing, advertising budgets are tighter than ever. Working with a reduced budget is challenging. Start by thinking about a few simple media related questions like:

• Who is my audience?
• Where can I find them?
• Once I find them, what do I want them to do?

When you answer those questions, you can create an effective media program. In fact, small budgets often force us to think outside of the box in order find new ways of reaching the audience.

Options available for reaching your audience are ever evolving.
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Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is becoming a vital component of many advertising programs. Without keywords a search campaign cannot function. However, keywords are only one element to think about. In a SEM program keywords are simply the key that opens the door for an ad to appear.

The ads triggered by keywords are the real bait, and what the user actually sees. The ads need to motivate someone to take action. They need to convince the searcher to click on the ad, and hopefully lay the foundation for spending time on the landing page.

Think about how long you spend on search results pages. I bet it is not very long. With that in mind, think about how hard SEM ads like Google’s Adwords must work to convince a searcher that the answer they are searching for is provided on the other side of the click.

Developing effective SEM ads can be a real
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To start, the key to a successful search engine marketing (SEM) campaign, just like any advertising campaign, is determining the goal of the program, and defining the specific products and/or services that will be promoted. Focusing on keywords and phases often leads to a long list of keywords that you then try to mold into a campaign. 

Another important step is determining the content of your landing pages. Do you already have landing pages that support what will be promoted? If not they need to be developed, and designed so that visitors feel compelled to break anonymity. This is where the visitor moves from a nameless "page view" to a prospect. Also, having landing pages that are relevant to your keywords and your ad will help increase your ranking (and enhance your visitor's experience).
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Jim Castanzo's recent blog entry about  the recent joint survey by the Association of National Advertisers and BtoB magazine, reports that 31% of B2B marketers are allocating 20% or more of their total media budgets to new media platforms. This is compared with only 5% of B2C marketers.
Made me think about our clients at Godfrey.  We are seeing more online media. Does this mean the end to print ads in the trade magazines? The answer is, “It depends.” It depends on who your target audience is. How are they consuming media? Where does your product or service fall into their buying cycle? We often find that the best approach is a “multi media” campaign that utilizes various types of media. These elements must be targeted to reach the various people in your target audience.
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Search is a great way to connect with buyers when they are actively in the market for a product or service, but click fraud is causing SEM professional to take a second look. Being aware of click fraud is the first step in protecting your campaign. So here are my top 5 ways to fight click fraud.

1. Monitor your campaigns. Keep a close eye on what a normal traffic pattern is. If one day you notice that the content portion of the AdWords campaign is producing at 25% click through rate (CTR) when your average is .5% you’ll know something may be wrong.
2. Negative Keywords! Negative keywords are just as important as the keyword list. This is one
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