It looks like Boost is essentially a way for Google Places accounts to place paid search advertising without diving into the AdWords interface firsthand. The official Google word is as follows:

To create your ad, all that is required is a short business description, a web or Place page, your business categories and a monthly budget.  From there, our system automatically sets up your ad campaign – figuring out the relevant keywords that will trigger your ad to appear on Google and Google Maps, and how to get the most out of the budget you allotted.

Frankly, it sounds like this is a way for Google to further monetize the AdWords platform while stripping control out of the hands of advertisers.  Google — not the advertiser – chooses the keyword, and experience holds that certain keywords can be pretty expensive based on cost-per-click (CPC).  This raises a concern that Google will be running ads against $10 CPC keywords for small business owners who don’t know any better.  Further, tactics to optimize standard paid search campaigns and drive down costs — keyword grouping, A/B testing of copy, and so on — will be absent, which could increase costs even further for advertisers.

MGH recommends that small business owners be wary of signing up for the service at the moment and instead continue running AdWords and Places campaigns separately.  After advertisers can accurately compare the cost-per-click of Boost and AdWords, then the value of Boost can be truly evaluated.

According to Hampp, network radio still reaches more than 88% of adults 18-34, a 3% increase from the previous year. In addition, more than 93% of African-Americans and 96% of Hispanic people ages 12 or older are also being reached by the medium. Hampp states: “Radio’s even a bit affluent – 96% of college graduates ages 25-54 with an annual income of $50,000 or more still listen to radio once a week, while 88% of 18-49 year olds with college degrees and an income of $75,000 or higher tune in each week.”

Are people still buying radio ads? Hampp also reports that according to the Radio Advertising Bureau, “radio just experienced its largest quarterly revenue gain since 2000, growing 8% to $4.5 billion in second quarter 2010.”

Bottom line? While it’s important to incorporate the many new types of media into your ad campaign, it’s important to still consider traditional media as well.

The value comes from seeing data that says how long someone interacted with your brand, or how many orders someone placed after viewing your ad. That’s what tells the advertiser if someone is interested or not. Tracking a conversion that shows you made a profit will be the measurement of success.

There are three main ways that an advertiser can measure the impact of online banners and advertising beyond just the click.

• Actual ROI. When developing a campaign, time must be spent up front creating ways to drive conversions that will actual affect a company’s bottom line. The banner should aim to spur some sort of action that can be tracked and that creates an engagement with the business. This could include: Encouraging online orders/sales; driving traffic to Web pages that are valuable to the advertising campaign; or spurring consumers to submit their information via surveys, polls, e-newsletters, mailing lists, information requests and more.

• Site traffic trends with Analytics. Comparing site traffic during a campaign to site traffic prior and post campaign is a great way to find out how people are responding to your marketing efforts. A successful campaign will show an increase in visits, specifically from new visitors, as well as an increase in the time spent on your site. If the campaign is designed to navigate users to multiple pages throughout the site, then you might measure the number of pageviews per visitor as success. If the campaign is designed to send people to one specific page, then you probably want to see that content in your top 10 most visited pages.

• Rich Media advertising. Rich media is online advertising that uses advanced technology such as streaming video, downloaded applets (programs) that interact instantly with the user, and ads that change when the user’s mouse passes over it. Rich Media campaigns engage users as much as websites, but users don’t have to be completely interrupted by leaving their webpage. By using these technologies, users can still gain valuable brand exposure, without having to click. To measure the effectiveness of Rich Media ads, advertisers can look at the umber of users interacting with ad and the time spent on the ad. In addition, advertisers can imbed other features in Rich Media allowing them to: promote their Facebook and Twitter accounts; collect emails; offer a store locator feature; provide a coupon to download; and allow users to forward the ad to a friend.

Our tests indicate that users with Google accounts will be opted into the service automatically.

There are big implications for local search, search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO), and Twitter is already abuzz. Google itself admitted on its Analytics blog that this is a game changer, saying, “With this change, you might notice some fluctuations in AdWords impression volume and traffic for organic keywords.”

Only time will tell how current campaigns will be impacted, but this could have big implications for campaigns leveraging long tail keywords – that is, the strategy of targeting less-competitive niche markets by optimizing against more specific and longer search terms. Users won’t finish typing a five-term query when what they’re looking for is already in front of them. And if advertisers begin bidding on the same head terms, this could increase competition and drive up cost-per-click (CPC) prices as a result.

I recommend looking at the keywords you’re bidding on that appear in Google Instant and monitoring them closely to make sure prices are not severely affected.

In the meantime, if you’d like more information on Instant, check out the official Google Instant page or the Advertiser FAQ.

Gap’s offer was the largest daily sale Groupon has seen since its inception in 2008, with about 440,000 coupons sold. This translates to $11 million in revenue that the site splits (typically 50 percent) with its partner.

With all of the recent buzz around Groupon, we in the advertising space are forced to question the value of the online coupon website for our clients. For those of you who were not one of the 440,000, Groupon is a subscriber-based site that sends daily e-mails with one heavily discounted deal for a local business. These discounts are for a limited time only and have an average markdown of 25-75 percent. While Groupon seems like a no-brainer to consumers, it must be carefully examined by the Groupee.

Take Gaps’ offer for example. This deeply discounted offer, though an immensely successful social media campaign for Gap, translates to a substantial loss of potential profits for the retail giant – $11 million to be exact (and this doesn’t account for the $5.5 million in sales they will split with Groupon).

Julie Mossler, a spokeswoman for the site, said: “Local ‘brick and mortar’ businesses are the foundation of Groupon. They provide businesses with a window to a desirable audience that may otherwise not be reached. The hope is that once a new customer is exposed they will have a positive experience and the establishment will acquire a long-term customer.”

So, for those of you who are not Gap, how do you know if Groupon is right for you? MGH recommends you answer the following questions before planning your first or next offer:

1) Is local advertising a key part of your marketing plan?

Groupon is a hyper-local social platform. Local advertising typically means buying space in a local publication in hopes it will make consumers aware of your company and utilize your services. In contrast, Groupon doesn’t cost you, the merchant, anything up front. Sending the e-mail blast in any given city is absolutely free. Groupon then collects the money from purchases, takes a percentage, and pays the business for all the Groupons sold. The business simply honors the Groupons as customers come in the door with their printed coupon.

2) Will it successfully reach your target audience?

The typical Groupon user is one of the most desirable demographics around: young, active, employed, college educated and female. This group, relentlessly networking with their friends and colleagues via an endless lineup of social networks, has disposable income and is constantly on the lookout for the next big thing to Tweet about. As a result, many Groupon merchants have enjoyed viral success in addition to tangible revenue.

3) Does your business offer the right kind of product or service?

A large variety of businesses have been featured on Groupon (The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, The Brewer’s Art, YMCA, CakeLove and Bikram Yoga Baltimore). Consider creating a unique offer, like a behind the scenes tour or special meal, to further entice sales.

4) Can you handle the discount?

You’ll need to discount your product or service by at least half, before splitting the remaining revenue 50/50 with Groupon. Essentially, you’ll make 25 cents on the dollar, or less, so it’s important to look at Groupon as a marketing and advertising tool – via promotion on its website, Twitter, Facebook and email – rather than a mass sales tool. But, use it sparingly; you don’t want customers to come to expect these discounts and hold off on purchases in between your offers.

5) Are you prepared for the new customers?

When a Groupon offer is created, it is blasted to an average of 100,000 subscribers per market. With a redemption rate of about 66%, this could yield 66,000 potential new customers. When working with Groupon, be sure to specify the maximum number of coupons you can handle and be prepared to incur the additional expenses that will come with an influx of business.

Groupon is in the process of rolling out “Personalized Deals,” which will allow companies to reach a subset demographic based on gender, buying history and interests. This will allow Groupon to rotate more deals to targeted lists per market per day. This new targeting opportunity will allow the site to grow and reach more of the male audience by separating many of the female-focused deals.

Groupon is a great way to gain exposure to new customers and provide existing ones with a reason to revisit your establishment. If your company sells durable goods that most customers only buy once or twice in a lifetime, Groupon may not be a sound strategy. If you traditionally attract a repeat customer with a high lifetime value, Groupon just might be the way to go. Yes, you may lose some profit up front, but if that customer 1) returns and buys something and 2) tells their friends about you… we all win!

Well, the Philadelphia Inquirer has declared its 3D section a success.  According to a survey of their readers, they found that:

-          53% felt the section was innovative

-          41% said it enhanced enjoyment of the newspaper

-          64% recalled the section’s presenting sponsor, Best Buy

The publication is even planning three additional 3D sections to follow in 2010. Scheduled dates include August for Back to School, October for Halloween and November for the 2010 Holiday season. 

I was excited to get a copy in the mail and see for myself. I put the glasses on and found myself squinting and moving the pages around in order to see the images pop off the page. Sadly, I was not terribly impressed. Some images were clearer than others, but most made me dizzy. The section consisted of five ads and one spread of content – 3D scenes of Philadelphia.

My ruling on the issue: It was an interesting idea, but until they perfect the technology and bring down the rates, I probably will not be recommending this tactic to my clients.

Read more from MGH NOW: Philadelphia Inquirer goes 3D

Previously, if you wanted to reach the DirectTV audience, you had two options:  1) purchase national ads from each cable network to reach all wired cable & satellite households; or 2) purchase ads from DirecTV and reach only their subscribers. Neither option makes much sense for a single-market, local advertiser.

Historically single-market advertisers have only been able to buy ad space from local cable companies (Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, etc.). The problem is that their hard-wired cable systems only cover about 70% of each market, with the rest going to satellite (25%) and over the air signals (5%).

Now, local advertisers have the ability to reach both hard-wired and DirecTV subscribers within a given market.  This potentially brings their coverage up to 85%-95%, depending on the market.  As cable programming continues to climb the ratings, more and more advertisers are flocking to these shows.  Top cable shows (Burn Notice, Royal Pains, WWE, NASCAR, etc.) typically rank among the top 25 of all TV shows airing in a given week.

The 3D technology has come a long way from the blurry images and red and blue glasses.  The section will appear to look normal if you are not wearing the glasses, but pop off the page once the glasses are on.

Recent movies including Avatar and new 3D TV sets are increasing interest in this technology and making it seem that one day, all the media we consume could pop off the screen.  However, it likely has a long road ahead before it will become mainstream.  Samsung and Mitsubishi have 3D capable TV sets on sale at Best Buy.  But, they are only “3D ready” and not prepared to start airing 3D quite yet.

The Philadelphia Inquirer seems to be ahead of its time.  While this tactic will likely engage younger readers, consider that almost 60% of the readers of Philadelphia Inquirer are 50+.  This demographic is typically set in their ways and not open to change, especially when it comes to a daily ritual such as reading the newspaper.  Also, only 24% of those who read the online version of the publication are also reading the newspaper.  The 3D technology will be lost on the remaing 76% as the glasses will only be available in the publication.

If you are in the Philadelphia area on Sunday, pick up a paper and let us know what you think.

Read more from MGH NOW: Readers Respond to 3D Section

According to Steven Boal, CEO of Coupons.com, “well-heeled, educated and urban shoppers are taking advantage of coupons.” Nearly two-thirds of adults with a household income of more than $100,000 have redeemed a coupon in the past 6 months. In addition, newspapers and direct mail/circulars hold the top spots for couponing for both males and females – 62% of shoppers use newspaper coupons and 58% of  shoppers use direct mail/circulars. Mobile phone couponing ranks the lowest with only 2% of shoppers using – though we expect this number to continue to increase.

Not only is it interesting to see that men are using coupons, but newspapers are still the #1 place for consumers to get their coupons. Co-op and free standing  newspaper coupon inserts still remain a great, inexpensive way for companies to reach a coupon-hungry audience.  And in today’s economy, they seem to be working better than ever.

Last year, WBAL-AM increased its news coverage in morning drive (the Dave Durian show) and ratings have risen. Overall, news/talk stations have seen their ratings slide following the adoption of Arbitron’s new people meters (devices people wear to track their exposure to radio programs).

Essentially, news/talks stations are moving to make changes like these to increase listenership – with ultimate goal of enticing more advertisers to buy spots on their stations. In WBAL-AM’s case, this will provide a huge draw for people leaving work who want to tune in to hear the latest, local news. Currently, there are no other stations in the Baltimore market that focus on local news in the afternoon.

In other news, Ron Smith’s show – formerly in the afternoon spot – will move to the 9 a.m. – noon slot. Details on who will be hosting afternoon drive have not yet been released. Clarence Mitchell IV’s show will continue to airing from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.