Since 2007 medical/surgical journals have begun seeing print advertising sales decline. In 2007, these publications saw a 4% reverse in revenue trends — the first decline in many, many years. In 2008, revenues really started to tumble, down another 12% to around $437 million. At that point, the last thing medical/surgical journals needed was a recession. In this article, James Chase teams up with Kantar Media to chart the biggest advertisers and the most advertised categories and brands of ‘09. They suggest that as medical/surgical journal publishers continue their quests to both survive and to develop new and supplementary revenue channels (read: digital) it remains to be seen whether they can recover from the latest round of red ink. But there are some encouraging signs at the start of 2010, with sizable gains reported, particularly in the primary care space.

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Google Ad Innovations: where ads are going next – Inside AdWords.  This is a new page by Google to keep the marketing world informed (to the extent that they show their cards) of where Google is heading in the advertising world.  I guess you could say this is the “Million Dollar Question” page.

The debate about the poor quality of content in the “un-vetted” online world, is often raised by traditional publishers when expressing their concerns for the destruction of quality content that is occurring. The visions of the future that some in traditional media put forth present quite a dire picture of the future of media.

This Mediapost piece titled “The Death of Truth?” MediaPost Publications The Death of Truth? 03/18/2010 is interesting when considering this debate and the “advantage” traditional publishers have in the online world, if/when they are willing to take advantage of it.  From the piece:

“Trusted, branded, editorial voices, when on the Internet, attract higher quality audiences than the so-called portals.  The Online Publishers Association, the organization of publishers who invest in producing their own content (as opposed to those who create audiences through tools like email or strategies like aggregation) sponsored research that demonstrates the higher demographics and stronger purchase patterns for the audiences of their sites compared to the generic content on portals.

But these branded media sites have, in many cases, not seen the online audience growth that might be expected given the online traffic available.  Instead, new, irreverent, fast-moving, “raw” alternative content sites have captured much of the Internet traffic that might have accrued to the big, old, famous brands.  It seems that users feel these alternative voices and sites are based on more-specific, more-useful, even less “slick” content that is more honest and reliable.”

What do you think?  Is the future of content bleak and biased?  Or will the democratization of the web (think Wikipedia) make for an even more accurate and comprehensive database of knowledge than can be amassed through the vetting of a select group of editors?

The right inbound links are a key factor in Search Engine Optimization. Here are some easy steps for taking 30 minutes a day for 4 days a week to focus on this important activity for your business.

Follow these tips for success.

These are some ways to turn one ad impression into more in order to get more value for your investment. Some of the tactics are easy and some not so much, but they are all worth considering to evaluate what might work for you in your marketing plans.

At e-Healthcare Solutions we prescribe to this approach and offer our advertisers value-add opportunities that are proving to be quite efficient for our clients.

Hope you enjoy these tips and find them useful in your own business.

Read the tips.

According to Nielsen, Pharma DTC spending on Internet ads, has doubled over the last five years.   Online Pharma DTC hit $117.4 million, up 31 percent in 2009.  See more here:

Drugmakers boost consumer ad spending 2 pct in ‘09.

Conde Nast continues to “grasp onto the vine” that they know for fear of falling to the jungle floor (see Tarzan Economics from Don Tapscott’s Wikinomics).   $90MM on a print campaign to tell the world that print is alive and well.  Not the appropriate management of a cash cow lifecycle product.  Embrace the future.

Print Is Dead, Long Live Print: Digital Magazines Have Publishers in a Spin | Technomix | Fast Company.

Good article about online media sales focusing on specific audience characteristics and movement in off-line sales, not about impressions and clicks.

Online is the medium of choice for reaching hard to find niche audiences.

Winning Online is About Serving Your Audience, not Impressions | Nielsen Wire.

Nielsen shows overall ad spending for 2009 down 9%.  Internet was relatively flat with a 0.1% gain and pharmaceutical advertising inched up slightly by 1.8% (though that excludes B2B magazine spending).

Only a few media categories such as Cable TV (particularly Spanish language cable) and free-standing coupon inserts has meaningful double digit growth.

MediaPost Publications Nielsen: U.S. ‘09 Ad Spend Down 9% 02/25/2010.

In a related article, total display advertising is relatively flat (up 1% in 2009) with “flat” being deemed the new “up”.

39% of iPhone/iTouch user turn to Apps for Health Inquires according to a new study by Greystripe.  Of those, 36% to search for doctors, 35% to look for pharmacies, and 23% to find hospitals.  Fitness programs were a favorite at 40% downloading them, followed by diet apps, at 28%, and medical apps, 27%.