In addition to today’s Internet Marketing Monitor coverage, we felt these stories were worth pulling out of the multitude of news items for May 31, 2007:

Poll Update: 47% of you think Google should be investigated for antitrust [Read/Write Web]

R/W Web ran a poll asking if readers thought Google should go under the antitrust gun for its purchase of DoubleClick. At the time of the post, 47% said “YES”… they should. At the time of this writing, however, that number has increased to 51%. Out of 174 total votes, 89 were in the affirmative. What does this mean? It means that Google’s “do no evil, we’re your friend” ride may be slowing down. People are becoming much more aware of the power that Google wields and are starting to scrutinize the company more than they were even a year ago. Will this change anything? Probably not. But scrutiny is rarely a bad thing.

Why Nobody Clicks Your AdSense Ads [SEO Book]

Apparently Wil Wheaton (remember him?) thinks AdSense and Federated Media are big jokes. Why? Because he didn’t make any money using them. Aaron Wall at SEO Book calls him out on the real reason he made no money on them: he didn’t use them well. With the right implementation, AdSense and Federated Media are both good advertising options. Ask the whordes of other people using them.  Sure… some people make no money with them. But that’s usually a result of 1) low traffic 2) bad placement 3) difficult to contextualize content. A lot of people love both AdSense and Federated Media. So instead of writing the services off as “jokes”… why not look at your site and ask yourself why they didn’t work for you. Chances are… it’s a problem on your end.

  U.S. Singles: The New Nuclear Family  [MarketingVOX]

According to MarketResearch.com, more than half of the population of the United States consists of single adults.  The majority of these adults are young.  So what does this mean for marketers?  As the study points out, these single adults react favorably to marketing and advertising that “realistically depicts the single lifestyle”.  While families are still the core units of America society, new studies like these are suggesting that the non-married single consumer should be a marketed group.

  The Marlboro Man - Tapping in to Popular Culture and Trends  [Pronet Advertising]

Who knew that Marlboro was originally developed as a woman’s cigarette?  As Muhammad Saleem points out, Marlboro took advantage of the cowboy craze of the 50’s to re-brand and re-image their business… and it paid off.  Saleem says Marlboro’s sales jumped over 3,000% in one year and increased their market share from less than 1% to domination.  Why should you care about any of this?  Because by taking advantage of what was popular at the time, Marlboro built a massive business (granted… a business that kills people).

  How Simple & Inexpensive Trade Show Souvenir Got 430% ROI  [MarketingSherpa]

How could a trade show hat, given away to people stopping by a booth, generate a 430% ROI?  Simple:  it was unique and it was commemorative.  The hat wasn’t your generic “Company Logo Here” type of thing.  It was a souvenir cap that commemorated the trade show in question.  People loved it!  And by tracking who was getting the hat, the company in question here had a ton of new leads to follow up on.  Keep this in mind the next time you’re coming up with give aways, trade show gimmicks, and other “marketing” giveaways.  Sure… people will take just about anything that’s free.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t put those giveaways to use.

I think the influx of people trying the Google Gearified Reader slowed things down today.  Was I the only person that noticed?  Haha.  Have a great night folks!