A marketing expert has advised companies to make the most of open source technology.

Nicola Clark, features editor of Marketing Week, believes smaller companies can prosper by setting up a ‘bit.ly link’ to monitor real time statistics.

Clark believes the inexpensive option could be of great benefit to marketing companies:

“There’s no barriers to this type of technology it’s available to everybody.

“Say you were a shop and you wanted to measure how many people were visiting your blog, you could post a link to your blog on your Twitter by using www.bit.ly, which will mean that every time someone clicks on your blog you will know what time they clicked and what location that they’re in so you can get real time stats.”

A recent study by SEO Analytics suggests 47 per cent of companies only demonstrate basic levels of search engine optimisation.

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An expert has claimed the internet is now the key platform for marketing across the majority of brands.

Karin von Abrams, senior analyst at research and analyst firm eMarketer, said that the web has taken up the leading role in business promotional activity – in what appears to be good news for anybody searching for web marketing jobs.

Ms Von Abrams also made it clear that digital channels and social media are now crucial as a means of reaching out to target audiences.

“Every brand or business can benefit in some way from building awareness online, or from rethinking its business processes to make full use of digital channels.

“Advertisers in the UK have also made great strides in cross-media marketing, and the expertise in this area is growing all the time.”

Earlier this year, a fascinating eMarketer report revealed that companies spent more than a tenth of their online marketing budgets on social media in 2009.

In fact, the study revealed 19 per cent of their online marketing spend went towards email channels last year.

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Recently released data which shows Facebook has reached saturation point will not impact on internet marketing campaigns, a leading expert has predicted.

Web User News Editor Ben Camm-Jones has been responding to the news that the average time a UK user spends on Facebook has dipped from 30 minutes to 27.36 minutes in June.

However, Camm-Jones has pointed to the fact Facebook still accounts for 54.48 per cent of all social networking site visits:

“If Facebook continues to expand the range of games and apps available, it’ll continue to engage large numbers of people for a long time, so there is no reason for Facebook to panic.”

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New research suggests email marketing is a leading contender to claim the title of the ‘powerhouse’ of promotional activity.

According to acclaimed marketing blogger Anna Russell, social marketing activity may grab the headlines in media reports on the industry, but it’s actually email marketing that is often at the heart of successful campaigns.

Russell believes digital marketing professionals should not overlook the importance of effective email marketing.

Commenting on a recent survey that shows email marketing is often used to drive traffic to Facebook and Twitter pages, Russell reveals:

“This is not surprising when one appreciates that 82 per cent of consumers connect with fewer than ten brands in the social media space.

“In fact, 71 per cent of business executives claim they use email to promote their social media presence.”

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Marketing agencies are feeling more optimistic than ever, with 87% feeling positively about client budget increases, new business opportunities and staff numbers  for the last quarter of 2010.

Some 87% of respondents to a Marketing Agencies Association Agency Barometer survey predict client budgets will either stay the same or increase.

Out of those predicting an increase in client spend, 83% expect the increase to be over 10%. 75% of agencies are also expecting the number of new business opportunities to increase before the end of the year, with only 3% predicting decreases in this area.

The disciplines predicted to do the best in Q3 are digital and experiential; with 60% and 35% agencies respectively predicting an increase in spend on these channels over the next quarter.

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The International Marketing Festival in Edinburgh is set to launch over the 23rd and 24th August, featuring speakers from brands such as Sony Music, LoveFilm and Google.

The Marketing Society, creativebrief and The Assembly will host a series of events and talks to discuss the future of marketing.

Roisin Donnelly, corporate marketing director for UK and Ireland at Procter & Gamble, will host The Marketing Society’s events.

Speakers from brands like Sony Music, Bacardi and Fosters, plus agencies like BBH, VCCP and Octagon, will present their thoughts on how marketing influences society.

Key topics include branded content and entertainment, what ‘digital’ means for the decade ahead, and the future for advertising.

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The UK’s Chief Marketing Officer for Pizza Hut is to leave the restaurant chain for a new position at Yum! Restaurants International.

Murray Willows has been responsible for some of Pizza Hut’s most notable campaigns including the Pasta Hut adverts, launch of the Happy Hour menu, relaunch of the salad station and the launch of Tuscani pizzas.

In a statement, a spokesman for the high street chain said: “We can confirm that Murray will be leaving Pizza Hut UK after being offered a new role with our parent company, Yum! Restaurants International. I’m delighted to announce that Chris Tebben, Marketing Director has been promoted to replace him as Chief Marketing Officer.

“We’d like to thank Murray for all his hard work in helping us shape and develop our marketing strategy and we wish him all the best for the future.”

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Dyson, which last year launched its range of Air Multiplier bladeless fan products, is to hire 15 marketers to join its expanded department.

Positions to be filled include international marketing researcher, retail designer, advertising account manager, and online web developer.

“We’re looking to grow the marketing team here in Malmesbury [Wiltshire]. We’re doubling the number of UK engineers, [and] they’re developing lots of new ideas, so we need expand our team to help us tell people about them,” said Adam Rostom, international marketing director at Dyson, who will head up the expanded team.

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Cosmopolitan, the women’s glossy magazine, is launching Cosmo on Campus a free offshoot magazine aimed at students as part of a long-term loyalty initiative.

The brand extension has been developed as a long-term loyalty drive to help the NatMag owned women’s magazine attract new readers to its monthly glossy.

The magazine will be created by the same team that works on Cosmopolitan and will feature bespoke content aimed at 18 to 21 year old female students.

Cosmopolitan publishing director Justine Southall told Marketing Week that the initiative is about “recruiting readers to Cosmo and to the print medium”.

She adds: “It’s about bringing content that is relevant at that stage of life to build loyalty to Cosmo and recruit new readers.”

The magazine will be complemented by an online version with content tailored to students such as city guides, budget fashion advice and career and financial help. It will sit as part of the main Cosmopolitan website.

Southall says that the venture is already proving popular with advertisers wanting to target the student market directly.

“It’s a high cost investment but it’s highly targeted and the opportunity to extend Cosmo on Campus is huge,” she says.

Cosmo on Campus will launch in the week following Fresher’s week in October and will be published four times a year in line with term times.

The 56 page, free magazine will not be printed on glossy paper like its parent title, but on colour newsprint similar to that of free magazines Stylist and Shortlist.

Cosmo on Campus will be distributed at 65 university campus locations throughout the UK targeting the 750,000 female students. It will have an initial print run of 250,000.

Cosmo is appointing Cosmo Ambassadors on each campus to hand out the title to relevant readers.

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Experimental research carried out by the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University has found that while both sexes develop customer loyalty, men tend to be more loyal to a company or brand, while women value personal relationships.

Individual service providers, such as hairdressers or sales people, are particularly valued.

“Everyone, regardless of gender, has a strong need to belong,” said Stijn van Osselaer, Professor of Marketing. “But what they need to belong to is different. Women are interdependent with individuals, and men with groups.”

He concluded that, “marketers should make sure to treat women as individuals and encourage these one-on-one relationships.”

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