Paul Lemberg applies this 80/20 rule to business. “Determine which 20% are using 80% of your resources,” he writes. “Are they your top profit generators? If not, charge them for the resources you shower on them, or discontinue services to that tier.” These 20% of customers using 80% of your resources can be a drain on your bottom line.

This 80% of resources could stem from customer service, or “sales hunters” (i.e. people that only buy during a sale). “Yes, breaking up may be hard to do, but when a client is costing you money or making you crazy, it can be a smart move,” writes BusinessWeek.

The first step to firing your worst customers is distinguishing them amongst your entire customer base. To do this, consider implementing customer management systems to quantify the resources used by each customer. For instance, does a low-paying customer require more time with a customer service representative than your high-paying clients?

Consider building deterrents to ward off your “worst” customers. Maybe you create a pay wall, whereby if you exceed X amount of customer service time, you’re charged a penalty. Or, create price walls. For instance, if a customer only shops at your store when you have a sale, and your regualar clientel ignore sales for the most part, consider eliminating discount pricing.

Firing your worst customers can help you maximize your resources by catering only to those that comprise the majority of your profit. “Always be conscious of who’s treating you with the graciousness you deserve, and who isn’t. When insolence is staring you in the face, it’s best to cut your losses early, and make the space in your life for those who really matter: your fans,” writes the Pleasure and Pain Blog. Ultimately, after you fire your worst customers, you can continue acquiring those that matter to your bottom line — thus growing your company more efficiently and effectively.

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Amazon envisions the future of the e-commerce world to be in the cloud based on product launches in the past five years. In 2001, Amazon enabled its users to buy and sell used and new products and four years later began selling private label goods (under the name, Pinzon). Amazon has focused less on physical goods and more on the cloud in the second half of the decade.

In 2006, Amazon began selling data storage, called Amazon Simple Storage Service, and a year later launched its digital music service. In that same year, Amazon launched its ground-breaking e-reader the Kindle. And in July 2010, e-book sales overshadowed Amazon’s hardcover books. In fact, Amazon claims it sold 143 e-books for every 100 hardcover books. The success of the Kindle (which can only be rumored to be successful as Amazon has never released sales figures of the device) has arguably led to the current war of the tablets — with competitors like Apple, Google, Dell, HP and others.

With its e-book sales increasing (a resource with tips for eBook authors), Amazon is poised to tackle the emerging online video rental market. Online video is certainly a rising trend amongst internet users. In the month of December 2009, 178 million people watched 33.2 billion videos, with the average viewer watching 187 videos per month in the U.S, according to comScore. To capture this growing audience, Amazon recently announced it would soon begin $.99 online video rentals and launched video streaming, similar to Netflix. But Amazon isn’t the only company picking up on the trend.

Steve Jobs recently released the new iTV video rental device, Google has beta tested its YouTube rentals and the rapid growth of Netflix over the last couple of years is going to be challenging for Amazon to compete against. Netflix had 15 million subscribers as of June 30, an increase from 10.5 million a year ago, with 61 percent of them having watched a movie or television show via the internet on computers and web-connected TVs. And Netflix’s CEO admitted over the next decade he anticipates the company to focus primarily on internet streaming, reports the LA Times.

“Amazon.com has used aggressive price discounts to carve out a dominant position in print and electronic books,” writes the Wall Street Journal. But the company is faced with formidable competitors in the online video space. Beyond the industry leader, Netflix, Amazon is challenged by Apple — which aims to replicate its $.99 music downloads in the video rental market with its new iTV. Amazon’s goal is to match the $.99 rentals, but if Apple’s iTV takes off, Amazon could lose grasp of the market.

Will Amazon tackle the online video rental market as it did with e-books? If Amazon can parallel its e-book success in the online video space, the online retailer will be that much closer to achieving its goal of becoming the center of the e-commerce universe.

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Making the customer feel comfortable and special are the two main drivers of in-store brand experience, reports a recent survey from the Luxury Institute. How luxury brands are meeting these customer needs is being driven by what we traditionally expect from luxury brands and also some innovative thinking.

Luxury brands are hitting their mark most of the time, according to LI’s study. Mystery shoppers report that on 94% of Burberry visits the staff made them feel comfortable; Vuitton did the same 76% of the time and Burberry and Vuitton top the rankings for making customers feel special, doing it on 52% and 42% of visits, respectively. But what tactics have luxury brands employed in 2010 to enhance the in-store experience?

Personalized Tech

One innovative way luxury brands are adding a touch of special is through mobile technology. In-store sales people can deliver better service with the aid of mobile devices, such as the iPad. “Mobile devices combine personalization efficiency and effectiveness with an unprecedented touch of caring and nurturing that are the Holy Grail of a true luxury experience,” writes Luxist in its 2011 trend report.

Multi-media devices, such as the iPad, can be used to check inventory, arrange for real-time delivery, cash-out customers, extend sales pitches, and videos to further enhance the personal brand experience. Mercedes Benz is one of the first brands to test this mobile sales service in the USA and Acura will be leveraging its iPad app to help dealership staff speed up the selling process. Audi and Puma are also using the iPad to customize the customer service experience.

Investing in Kind Human Capital

The stuffy, know-it-all, sometimes condescending sales associate is certainly a big turn-off for customers at luxury stores. LI takes example of superior customer service from the online retailer, Zappos. Taking a cue from the extremely polite, considerate and genuine customer service reps at Zappos, “putting polite, informed and well-groomed sales personnel on the floor is just the start, but done well it can be a true differentiator,” writes Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute.

Special Deals

German designer, Hugo Boss, is injecting some innovative thinking into its in-store brand experience. To get boots through the door, the brand offers special perks for those who check-in. One of the perks are discounts up to 40 percent and even special one-night events. Boss is marrying mobile technology with discounts and other perks to make its loyal customers feel special.

Putting an iPad in the hand of top-tier sales people is not the silver bullet to creating a best-in-class brand experience. It’s about managing expectations of customers. Through the years, affluent buyers expect the clean-shaven, polite sales people, but that isn’t the end-all-be-all answer either. Pleasantly surprise them with a sales associate that can show them product demos and even check them out without gracing the sales counter. Blending tradition and innovation are two ways to manage expectations and deliver a best-in-class customer experience.

The internet and mobile devices have undoubtedly changed the how consumers learn about new products and inform buying decisions. Mobile devices, in particular, are merging the in-store shopping experience with the digital world through internet connectivity, coupon apps, social networking sites and numerous other ways being cooked-up in entrepreneur tech labs. Here are several valuable stats on how consumers are merging the two, based on recent eMarketer reports:

STAT:  45% of consumers bought grocery or personal care products in-store after researching on the internet.
Takeaway: Consumers are becoming product experts before entering the store. Reviews are becoming more and more critical as consumers use them to influence their buying decision. Set up Google Alerts to see where your brand is mentioned and bookmark those pages to measure the ongoing consumer sentiment.

STAT:  31% of consumers purchased a grocery or personal care product after using their mobile phone.
Takeaway: Mobile phones are becoming resources for real time, in-store research. Users are increasingly accessing information on their mobile device, and consumers are doing so as they make their buying decision. Therefore, optimizing your website for mobile browsers is going to play a significant role in how consumers interact with your brand as they make their purchasing decision.

STAT:  Social networks, SMS and other consumer content producing platforms are giving customers a larger microphone to share their opinions than ever before. 11% of those blogged about the purchase experience, posted a comment about the purchase on a social networking site and 11% posted a review online, respectively.
Takeaway: As more and more consumers become content producers, the brand experience will become more essential. Is customer service a pleasant experience for everyone? If not, how can you it better? These are the types of questions that are becoming increasingly important as consumers use their mobile devices to explain the world around them.

STAT:  39% of those surveyed engaged in social network conversation about potential purchases.
Takeaway: Social networks are becoming a go-to place to learn more about brands from friends. Digital media and social networks are much easier to track than offline conversations. Brands can use data scrapping techniques to listen and learn what consumers in the buying cycle are saying about their brands on social networks, blogs and other digital platforms and potentially intervene with special offers to incentivize consumers to make the purchase.

STAT:  78% of consumers would purchase items off of their shopping lists because it was a special promotion.
Takeaway: Consumers are still deal hunters and digital devices can offer in-store savings.  Brands should look to digital discount services, such as Groupon or mobile apps like Coupon Sherpa, inoDeals, Coupon Clipper and Yowza to promote their brands for frugal shoppers looking for a reason to splurge.

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If you could reduce your product packaging costs by 38% while offering a more sustainable solution to your customers, would you think twice? Many companies are taking bold steps to incorporate sustainability into their core business strategy, reaping not only brand and customer benefits, but bottom line benefits as well.

In a recent example, the outdoor industry, whose customers are known for their environmental savvy, is embracing sustainability through industry wide collaboration. A sub-group of the Outdoor Industry Association called the Eco Working Group spent the past four years creating the Eco Index – an environmental assessment software tool designed to advance sustainability practices among the apparel, footwear and equipment manufacturers.

Launched in the summer of 2010 and backed by supporters like REI, Target, Timberland, Patagonia, Brooks, Levi’s and Nike, the Eco Index is quickly earning credibility and has the potential to drive major changes in the apparel industry. The Eco Index addresses two of the biggest challenges companies face in making a case for socially responsible business practices – quantifying the costs and savings and standardizing performance metrics that can be easily communicated to customers.

According to their website, the Eco Index “provides companies throughout the supply chain a way to benchmark and measure their environmental footprint, allowing them to identify areas for improvement and make informed sourcing and product life cycle decisions.” Furthermore, the index seeks to create “common language” around sustainability for consumers and retailers alike that will allow for more informed decisions.

The Eco Index is similar to Energy Star, the EPA’s rating program that ranks the energy efficiency of appliances such as refrigerators, which has become the international standard in measuring appliance energy efficiency. In the Eco-Index, products are ranked based on suppliers’ answers to survey questions and then assigned a score that is some percentage of “perfect” in each of 7 “lenses”: Land Use Intensity, Water, Waste, Biodiversity, Chemistry/Toxics – People, Chemistry/Toxics – Environment, and Energy Use and Green House Gas Emissions.

Unlike the Energy Star program, the Eco Index is currently only an internal supply chain tool and is not a consumer-facing label. In order for the Eco Index to reach such a level of adoption, it would have to be made available at the point of sale. For now, “it’s a tool for a company to use to make a better choice,” Amy Roberts, vice president of government affairs for the Outdoor Industry Association explains.

While the Eco Index does provide a methodology that is easily applied across categories, it is only in Phase 1 roll out and there are still some big questions to address. For example, some survey questions rely on estimates from suppliers, which could call into question the accuracy of a score; and currently there is no total score, although one may be incorporated during later phases of the project.

Despite the fact that it’s still a work in progress, the Eco Index has proven that a focus on sustainability can impact the bottom line. Even at the most basic level, programs that reduce, reuse and recycle frequently lead to cost savings. According to the Eco Index website, Patagonia’s efforts to encourage its supply chain to adopt more sustainable practices have resulted in eleven of its textile

If you could reduce your product packaging costs by 38% while offering a more sustainable solution to your customers, would you think twice? Many companies are taking bold steps to incorporate sustainability into their core business strategy, reaping not only brand and customer benefits, but bottom line benefits as well.

In a recent example, the outdoor industry, whose customers are known for their environmental savvy, is embracing sustainability through industry wide collaboration. A sub-group of the Outdoor Industry Association called the Eco Working Group spent the past four years creating the Eco Index – an environmental assessment software tool designed to advance sustainability practices among the apparel, footwear and equipment manufacturers.

Launched in the summer of 2010 and backed by supporters like REI, Target, Timberland, Patagonia, Brooks, Levi’s and Nike, the Eco Index is quickly earning credibility and has the potential to drive major changes in the apparel industry. The Eco Index addresses two of the biggest challenges companies face in making a case for socially responsible business practices – quantifying the costs and savings and standardizing performance metrics that can be easily communicated to customers.

According to their website, the Eco Index “provides companies throughout the supply chain a way to benchmark and measure their environmental footprint, allowing them to identify areas for improvement and make informed sourcing and product life cycle decisions.” Furthermore, the index seeks to create “common language” around sustainability for consumers and retailers alike that will allow for more informed decisions.

The Eco Index is similar to Energy Star, the EPA’s rating program that ranks the energy efficiency of appliances such as refrigerators, which has become the international standard in measuring appliance energy efficiency. In the Eco-Index, products are ranked based on suppliers’ answers to survey questions and then assigned a score that is some percentage of “perfect” in each of 7 “lenses”: Land Use Intensity, Water, Waste, Biodiversity, Chemistry/Toxics – People, Chemistry/Toxics – Environment, and Energy Use and Green House Gas Emissions.

Unlike the Energy Star program, the Eco Index is currently only an internal supply chain tool and is not a consumer-facing label. In order for the Eco Index to reach such a level of adoption, it would have to be made available at the point of sale. For now, “it’s a tool for a company to use to make a better choice,” Amy Roberts, vice president of government affairs for the Outdoor Industry Association explains.

While the Eco Index does provide a methodology that is easily applied across categories, it is only in Phase 1 roll out and there are still some big questions to address. For example, some survey questions rely on estimates from suppliers, which could call into question the accuracy of a score; and currently there is no total score, although one may be incorporated during later phases of the project.

Despite the fact that it’s still a work in progress, the Eco Index has proven that a focus on sustainability can impact the bottom line. Even at the most basic level, programs that reduce, reuse and recycle frequently lead to cost savings. According to the Eco Index website, Patagonia’s efforts to encourage its supply chain to adopt more sustainable practices have resulted in eleven of its textile mills adopting the Bluesign standard – allowing Patagonia to

reduce the costs and time associated with monitoring those vendors.

A Wall Street Journal article reports that, in and effort to improve their Eco Index score, “Brooks got rid of moisture-absorbing silica bags, which turned out to be ineffective, and stopped stuffing the insides of shoes with tissue paper. As an added benefit, the “green” changes reduced the cost of the shoe box by 38%.”

With both proven bottom line impact and growing consumer feedback favoring green minded companies, as a business leader, are you adequately engaging your customer around your sustainability efforts?

Many consumers cite that they recognize that sustainability and social responsibility is a developing conversation in the business world and they want to hear about the work in progress. They don’t expect companies to have all of the answers, but they do expect a response.

As the Eco Index, and tools like it in other industries, moves toward a more consumer-facing model, there will be increased incentive for companies to incorporate sustainability in all facets of their business from product design to supply chain. Will you be a leader in green innovation, or will you be left standing in a pile of tissue paper and silica bags?

Social Media Trends

• Overview
  • Total advertising spending currently an $449.7 billion per year. ZenithOptimedia
  • Of the global ad spend, web marketing will rise from 14 to 18 percent in 2013 — driven by video and social media. ZenithOptimedia
• Key Players
  • Groupon has 21 million subscribers, 20.25 million coupons bought, available in 150+ cities and has saved an eye-popping $850 million for its customers. Goupon
  • Groupon walked away from a $6 billion offer from Google. ZenithOptimedia
  • Facebook revenues are estimated at nearly $1.4 billion in 2010. SMI
  • The largest Facebook advertisers are increasing their spend on the social network by 20-fold. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg
• Venture Capital Investment
  • Social media ranked number one (13 percent) for 2009-2010 top 30 VCs internet funding sectors. CB Insights
• Business Perspective
  • Facebook placed third (behind websites and email marketing) at 63 percent as the most important marketing tools used to promote small businesses. Constant Contact
  • US companies using social media tools for marketing purposes grew 15 percent from 2009 to 2010 to 73 percent and is estimated to grow to 80 percent in 2011 and 88 percent in 2012. eMarketer

eCommerce

• Overview
  • Online retail sales are anticipated to grow 10 percent annually for the next five years, accounting for 53 percent of all U.S. retail sales by 2014. Forrester Research.
  • Females make up 57.9 percent and males 42.1 percent of internet users who made any type of purchase online. comScore
• eLuxury
  • Households with an annual income of over $100,000 contributed to only a third of total US online spending in 2010 Q2, but accounted for for two-thirds of the ecommerce growth. comScore
  • Prada estimates that within five years about 40 percent of its revenue in America will be from Internet sales. NuWire Investor
• Amazon.com
  • Analysts are estimating a 25 percent growth over the next five years for Amazon.com. EntreBlogger
  • Amazon has grown its top line roughly 40 percent in every quarter in 2010. EntreBlogger
  • Amazon’s China business may add $1 billion to its revenue growth from 2011 and China may contribute about 10 percent of the global revenue by 2015. Goldman Sachs
• Venture Capital Investment
  • Discount sites accounted for 9 percent (placing third, behind social media and advertising, sales and marketing) of 2009-2010 top 30 VCs funding. CB Insights
• Business Perspective
  • Flash sales and member-only ecommerce sites are hot
    • The four leading flash-sales sites (HauteLook, ideeli, Gilt Groupe and Rue La La) are expected to bring in an estimated $900 million in revenues in 2010 and double the number of visits to the category over the previous year. eMarketer
    • Member-only sites have experienced incredible growth in 2010. Ideeli’s 2010 visit growth reached 150 percent over last year and Gilt expects to generate $400 to 500 million in revenue in 2010. eMarketer
  • Top Flash Sale sites:
    • HauteLook (18.59 percent)
    • Beyond the Rack (17.34 percent)
    • Ideell (16.94 percent)
    • Gilt (13.06 percent)
    • Rue La La (8.05 percent) Experian

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Kidnap Me! — The Game (1997) is a thriller where Michael Douglas plays a jaded, bored business executive. For his birthday, his brother (played by Sean Penn), enrolls him in The Game — a program that injects action and fun into players’ lives. Douglas’ character is kidnapped, shot at and even shoots “villains.” French company, Ultime Realite, is making The Game a reality with its “Kidnapping,” “Manhunt” and “Go-Fast Adventure” services. Clients that choose the “Kidnapped” package are abducted without warning and imprisoned for four or 10 hours and the “Manhunt” package, you can be the hunter or the prey. Of course, you can customize your package with corpses, helicopters and more. For clients with a lot of money to spend, Ultime Realite will make your life a movie thriller — with as much thrill as you can handle.

Discover More About Friends — Imagine your friends made you a magazine, in real time. They want to make a feature of their trip to Italy a main spread in your magazine. Flipboard is an iPad app that crowdsources your social network friends’ stories, photos, news and updates from Twitter and Facebook. Links and images are seamlessly integrated into the magazine template to give users a well-designed, personalized way to keep up-to-date and discover new things about their friends and family. If a users’ social network dries up on content, they can always pull interesting links, stories and photos from Flipboard. Check out this video to see Flipboard in action:

Discover and Promote Indie Authors — Crowdsourcing your talent search isn’t anything new for the publishing world. Authonomy and Sellaband are two services that leverage the crowd to find the next up-and-coming author that might not otherwise be found by big publishing houses. TenPages offers authors to publish the first 10 pages or more of their book on the website. The site has shareholders, who can buy 200 shares in that or any other book for EUR 5 and those books that sell 2,000 shares in four months are rewarded with publication by one of three publishing houses. It’s a way for aspiring authors to get spotted and readers to find new, upcoming authors and actually take a stake in their future.

Mobile Delights — Want to show your girlfriend, husband, mother or any other important person in your life, how much you care about them? Typically we give affection in Hallmark cards. Giiv is trying to make sharing affection more fun and spontaneous. Simply download the free Giiv iPhone app and choose an item you’d like to give to that special someone — it could be an Amazon gift card or movie tickets. Then send them the gift code via text message, whereupon the thankful recipient can cash it in on the Giiv website. Giiv gives users a way to be spontaneous, fun and adventurous.

Prediction — Although not all consumers have the cash to be “kidnapped” safely for 24 hours, there are more economical ways of discovering new things. Expect more services, particularly in app form, to help users discover something about themselves or be spontaneous in one way or another to live life to the fullest.

Image via Flipboard

“Happy Hunter” — Spanish clothing brand, Desigual, is rewarding loyal customer that want to say a few kind words about the brand with free merchandise. Fans sign up for Desigual items they would like to be rewarded with at the “Happy Hunters” website. The clothier then sends fans a blog post to write some kind words about the brand. The first 100 to get a reply from the blogger wins the item they selected on the “Happy Hunter” website. And if you don’t get a response, the 20 percent discount for being a “Happy Hunter” member isn’t bad.

GetGlue — It seems like everyone is “checking in” these days. With FourSquare on the rise and new service-based check-in services, such as Topguest and Plancast, popping up all over the place, GetGlue is against some stiff competition. GetGlue’s twist is to reward top contributors. When users sign up, they are asked to choose products they enjoy. They are then given recommendations based on their preferences. Like FourSquare, those contributors that rate and review the most products are given guru status. Unlike FourSquare, however, GetGlue’s members are rewarded with brand stickers to further support their favorite brands. Stickers might be just the beginning however, as HBO is teaming up with GetGlue and there might be an opportunity for some real merch.

Smart Vending Machine — Money can’t buy you… a bag of chips? If the British company, Britvic’s Juicy Drench, has anything to say about it, customers need to work a little bit harder to get a drink. The company’s vending machines reward mental agility by forcing consumers to play from over 40 “mind games” on the machine’s touch screen to test alertness. The games are meant to re-enforce the brand’s message: “brains perform best when they’re hydrated.”

Supportland — Point-based loyalty rewards have been around for quite a while. You are probably a member of two or three brands with such a program. Supportland adds a twist to the traditional points-based reward programs. The Portland-based company leverages a network of 50 locally owned brands to incentivize consumers to continue to buy local. Consumers that use the Supportland card in the company’s network earn points that can then be used at any of the Portland shops. For instance, Poppy Massage offers a one-hour massage for every 500 points earned at any business or businesses in the Supportland network.

Prediction
Exchanging cash for goods is how economies have been running for thousands of years. I give you some money and you give me a product or service, right? Consumers are increasingly seeking more out of the relationship than just products and services. They want a pat on the back, saying “We really, really appreciate your patronage.” As more brands seek to reward customers not in just points, but in a more meaningful way, services that link customers and brands, such as Supportland and GetGlue will increase in popularity.

Image via GetGlue

Here are some stats to illustrate the size and strategies of the sustainability movement sweeping the business and consumer sectors:

Consumers Are Searching For a Green Thumb — Consumers’ expectations are changing and holding brands to a higher, more eco-conscious standard. Sixty six percent of consumers think it’s important or very important for companies to offer green products. Just because you cannot offer a bio-degradable bag, you could reduce the size of your packaging — making it not only eco-friendly, but cost effective — or make your distribution routes more efficient.

All Things Being Equal — All things being equal, consumers are willing to support a social cause. Two out of three consumers will switch brands if one works with ’good causes’ and the other does not. “Equal” is the operative word here. The majority of consumers are not willing to sacrifice user experience, quality or anything else in exchange for a feel-good mission.

Green Points Can Equal More Green — The cost of making green products generally does cost more and some consumers understand that. Consumers who said that they were willing to pay more for a green product rose from 20 to 24 percent. Yes, some consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products, but that doesn’t mean the majority are on board. Companies seeking the greener side might have to count their eco-friendly products as a financial loss to stay competitive with existing, non-eco products.

Where Do I Sign Up? — Brands are focusing increasingly on how to incorporate a social mission into their overall agenda. In fact, the “IEG Sponsorship Report” predicts that cause marketing will be the fastest-growing category of sponsorship spending in 2010, rising 6.1 percent over 2009 to reach $1.61 billion. As more brands integrate a social mission into their company, it will be increasingly difficult to differentiate from one socially-conscious brand to another. Therefore, creativity and audacity will play a more critical role in how social missions are formed.

Social Missions Are More Than a Marketing Tactic —  It’s not what you do today that matters, it’s your history of caring that matters. Seventy three percent of consumers believe companies should have a good environmental track record. Donating money to charity, creating eco-friendly products, these are just a few ways brands can jump onto the social mission band wagon. Consumers can see through the PR stunts, which means brands have to be in it for the long haul, not just the end of the next quarter.

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Large ad networks

24/7 RealMedia – Requires a minimum of one million page views per month. 400 billion global advertising impressions served every month. http://www.247realmedia.com/
AdBrite – Offers display/contextual ads. Reach of 100 million online visitors. http://www.adbrite.com/
Advertising.com – Primarily display/banners and media buys. Owned by Platform-A. Reaches 91% of all US internet users. http://www.advertising.com/
BidVertiser – Offers contextual and banner ads. http://www.bidvertiser.com/
Burst Media – Focused on banners/display/media buys. Mixture of CPM and CPC. Advertises to a range of 4700 sites. http://www.burstmedia.com/
BuySellAds – Offers fixed monthly prices based on average impressions. http://buysellads.com/
Clicksor – Primarily banners. Totals 3 billion ad impression per month. http://www.clicksor.com/
Technorati – Focused on banners. Reaches 248+ million unique visitors. http://technoratimedia.com/
Tribal Fusion – Media buy banner network and entirely CPM. Requires a minimum of 60,000 impressions for each ad space. Reaches over 230 million people per month worldwide. http://www.tribalfusion.com/
ValueClick Media – Focused on banners, display/media buys. Reaches 172 million unique users. http://www.valueclickmedia.com/
Vibrant Media – Primarily inline contextual/rich ads and media buys. Reaches 170 million unique visitors. http://www.vibrantmedia.com/

Mobile Ad Networks

AdMob – Focused on mobile ads and now owned by Google. Over 200 billion impressions served so far. http://www.admob.com/
mSnap – Displays ads via SMS text messages on mobile phones. Able to reach 200 million consumers. http://www.msnap.com/

Video Ad Networks

Brightroll – Focused on media buys and banners/video. More than 100 million unique viewers. http://www.brightroll.com/
Scanscout – Video ads designed to be placed into publisher’s own video content. Reaches 85 monthly uniques and delivers +500M streams per month. http://www.scanscout.com/
SpotXchange – Focused on media buys and banners/video. http://www.spotxchange.com/
Tremor Media - Leading online video monetization and advertising company, provides brand advertisers with in-stream and in-page video advertising solutions to top tier publishers.  Over 192 million unique visitors per month. http://www.tremormedia.com/

Targeted Demographics

Break Media – Powered by Adify, and targets audiences of males age 18-34. Requires at least 100,000 page views per month. Over 100 million unique visitors a month. http://breakmedia.break.com/
Glam – Focused on media buys and display ads for primarily female audiences. Requires at least 100,000 pages views per month. Reaches over 80 million viewers every month in the US and 164 million users worldwide. http://www.glammedia.com/

B2B

BBN Networks – High-end B2B publishers and advertisers. Reaches 35 million monthly unique users. http://bbnnetworks.com/
Bizo – Seems focused on the B2B space. Emphasis on a targeting and optimization system. Reaches over 30 million unique business users http://www.bizo.com/

Search / Text / CPC Ads

Chitika – Focused on search related contextual display ads. Reaches ver 2 billion monthly impressions across more than 80,000 websites. http://chitika.com/
Clickbooth – CPM, CPC, and CPA campaigns. Requires at least 1,000 “unique page views” per month. Owned by IntegraClick. http://www.clickbooth.com/
Google Adsense – The king. https://www.google.com/adsense/
Kontera – Primarily inline contextual text ads. Reaches 100 Million Monthly Uniques. http://www.kontera.com/

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