| Event | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 05/20/2013 - 05/27/2013 | New York City NY | |
| 05/29/2013 | Chicago IL | |
| 06/04/2013 | San Francisco CA | |
| 06/12/2013 - 06/13/2013 | New York City NY | |
| 06/24/2013 - 06/26/2013 | San Francisco CA | |
| 06/26/2013 | ||
| 07/15/2013 - 07/17/2013 | Dana Point Ca | |
| 07/23/2013 | Los Angeles CA | |
| 07/25/2013 | Los Angeles CA | |
| 09/18/2013 - 09/20/2013 | Austin TX |
IDG Global Solutions
That’s the key piece of advice for marketers this year from IDC’s Karsten Weide. He reported that mobile advertising grew 88% in 2012 to $4.5 billion from $2.4 billion in 2011.
At the BtoB Digital Edge conference in March 2013 in San Francisco, Weide spoke with IDG Global Solutions Director Howard Sholkin, who asked Weide for his predictions about digital marketing for the rest of this year…
Content Marketing Inst.
The term content marketing has been gaining a lot of attention over the last few years, and rightfully so. Content is a lifeline in today’s social ecosystem, so its rise in popularity makes perfect sense. But content marketing holds little benefit if it isn’t supported with a strong content strategy that enables a brand to tell a very consistent story across the media landscape.
Your content strategy should help draw parallels between what’s important to customers and what your brand stands for; it enables marketing teams to create more relevant content based on what your brand is comfortable talking about (and what it’s not comfortable talking about). And it provides opportunities for your employees, partners, and customer service reps to be a part of your story, too.
If you are ready to upgrade your content strategy — or create one from scratch — here are 3 considerations that will help keep your business in line with current content marketing best practices.
Content marketing is more than just fodder for SEO; it’s more than tweeting out a cool photo in real-time during the Super Bowl Halftime Show, and it’s so much more than an infographic that blesses your site with a multitude of back-links. Content must be emotional, tell a story, and aim to impact consumers’ behavior, attitudes, or perception of your brand. And, while search is certainly important, your brand story encompasses much more than what you write on your blog or website.
TechHive
Experimental engine for next Web coming to Android, ARM processors
SAN FRANCISCO - Mozilla can see the future of web browsing, and it lies in multi-core computing. Today’s quad-core processors will be quaint compared to the massive CPUs of the future, which are expected to contain 16, 32 or more cores.
With that in mind, the maker of Firefox announced Wednesday that it’s teaming up with Samsung to create a next-generation browser that will be built from scratch and will be based on a new engine, Servo, as well as use a new programming language, Rust.
“Mozilla’s mission is about advancing the web as a platform for all,” Mozilla CTO Brendan Eich wrote in The Mozilla Blog Wednesday.
“[W]e’re supporting this mission by experimenting with what’s next when it comes to the core technology powering the Web browser,” he wrote. “We need to be prepared to take advantage of tomorrow’s faster, multi-core, heterogeneous computing architectures.”
B2C
Email Still Isn’t Dead!
There were 1.3 billion Google search results for the phrase “email is dead” when I sat down to write this. Even though some may think that the era of connecting with consumers via their inbox is over, the numbers tell a very different story. Email is actually better than it’s ever been before, and companies who take advantage of the growing need for mobile-optimization and the very latest stats on best practices could see an ROI that makes interruption marketers want to cry.
As the public’s adoption of mobile technology and the Internet continues to grow, email marketing has proven to be one of the most rapidly changing fields within the arena of marketing. If you needed any more evidence that marketing is really a game for the most nimble, take the following stats to heart:
Content Marketing Inst./IDG
The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) surveyed more than 1,400 business-to-business marketers in the United States and Canada last year. CMI found that the software industry is strongly committed to content marketing with 99% using some form of it (social, webinars/webcasts, videos, case studies, and white papers, etc.). On average, software marketers spend 29% of their total budget on content marketing and a majority expect that percentage to increase in 2012-13.
The research report–sponsored by IDG Consumer & SMB, IDG Enterprise, IDG Global Solutions, and IDG TechNetwork—is available now…
IDG Connect
Over the next two weeks, IDG Connect is serializing commentary from industry experts on marketing 2013 predictions. We feature expert opinion on the key trends in 2013, and regional outlooks on what 2013 holds for marketing around the world.
Marketers have been trying to understand consumer behavior and motivations since the dawn of advertising and propaganda. Technology – from the earliest form of radio broadcasts and then TV – has had a deep impact on how marketing campaigns are strategized and executed. Today’s marketers have resources at their fingertips to get deep consumer insights based on their online and mobile behavior – capabilities that Don Draper and his team would do anything to get their hands on.
Each year, technology gets more precise at targeting the most interested consumers with the highest purchase intents. What trends will we see in 2013?
Mobile ads will grow
I might as well start the predictions off with the most obvious one. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard that mobile advertising is growing at an exponential rate. That’s because it works, and it works because the technology to enable it keeps getting more precise. As companies are able to discern more granular information about mobile users’ behaviors (device, location, etc.) the success of mobile ads will grow.
Reliance on first-party cookies
In the desktop world, marketers had things figured out. By attaching their cookies to popular sites such as NYTimes.com, they could track a user’s behavior, learn more about them and target ads specific to their behaviors. But iOS doesn’t allow third-party cookies, and neither does Android (it’s possible to get around this on Android, but it’s not reliable). But now brands realize the value of mobile ads, and that means they’re ready to do something about it.
Native@IDG Campaigns Bring Digital Marketing Closer to Technology Buyers
FRAMINGHAM, MA—March 28, 2013—Are Native@IDG services multimedia custom publishing, content, brand journalism, or social media marketing? Yes. Native advertising allows vendors to act as publishers in ways they have never done before. Native@IDG products and services give tech marketers the ability to present information across media channels based on reader interests. Native@IDG services are a portfolio of five marketing options across IDG media brands and the IDG TechNetwork of more than 550 independent sites.
The Native@IDG Portfolio Available Today
Native@IDG products and services deliver client messaging or specific information related to readers’ behaviors and content consumption. The offerings include the following:
InFunnel acts as a “reader’s assistant” through the use of contextual and behavioral data. Quality editorial and advertisers’ relevant content are key across digital channels and content formats to assist users as they plan to make purchases.
NewsCast is the first content recommendation module designed for a technology audience to generate awareness, credibility, and earned media views by aligning a brand with reviews and topics within existing IDG editorial. The module allows brands to recommend content to visitors and then retarget them with high-impact advertising as they travel across the IDG TechNetwork, including content that was originally served on IDG media brands.
Native Blogs live in the editorial blog section of IDG media sites. Advertisers can host and lead blogs that are accessible and promoted within those sites. Multimedia content can be custom produced as product reviews or related brand information.
Based on IDG research that shows tech buyers seek product videos and often times take action based on them, Video Trigger is designed to stimulate action by serving marketing messages and an advertiser’s call to action that are relevant to videos as they appear in an ad unit across IDG media and TechNetwork sites.
Flite is a creative partner for Native@IDG products and services. Will Price, CEO, Flite said: “IDG consistently leads the market in ad product innovation and thought leadership. Native@IDG is further evidence of how IDG is driving the future of advertising on behalf of its clients.” IDG TechNetwork’s Ekapat Charleonlarp, vice president, IDG TechNetwork, who worked with Flite to create nanosites (an advertiser microsite within an ad unit) a few years ago, helped build the Native@IDG services. Charleonlarp said: While most content may be free on the web, a reader’s attention is not. An effective native ad must be relevant and helpful whether it is informative, interesting, and/or entertaining.”
Bringing Marketers and Their Prospects Closer than Ever
“Native@IDG services are the culmination of what IDG Communications has been creating and delivering for tech marketers since the early days of the web,” said Matthew Yorke, CEO, IDG Global Solutions. “As a category leader for tech media serving consumers to professionals and gamers, we have the trust of readers, journalistic expertise, and data collection systems to attract, influence, and sell products regardless of where prospects choose to look for what they want.”
About International Data Group
International Data Group (IDG) is the world’s leading technology media, events and research company. Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, IDG products and services reach an audience of more than 280 million technology buyers in 97 countries.
IDG Communications’ global media brands include CFOworld, ChannelWorld®, CIO®, CSO®, Computerworld®, ITworld®, CITEworld, GamePro®, InfoWorld®, Macworld®, Network World®, PCWorld®, TechHive, and TechWorld®. IDG’s media network features 460 websites, 200 mobile sites and apps and 200 print titles spanning business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment, and video games worldwide. The IDG TechNetwork represents more than 500 independent websites in an ad network and exchange complementary to IDG’s media brands.
With expertise in branding, lead generation, and social media marketing, IDG marketing services programs are strategically designed and implemented to influence technology vendor prospects worldwide.
A recognized leader in conference and exhibition management, IDG produces more than 700 globally branded technology and entertainment conferences and events in 55 countries.
International Data Corporation (IDC), a subsidiary of IDG, has more than 1,000 analysts who provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in more than 110 countries.
Additional information about IDG, a privately held company, is available at http://www.idg.com
Contact: Howard Sholkin, 508-766-5610, howard_sholkin@idg.com
Trademarks and registered trademarks are owned by International Data Group, Inc. All product and company names are trademarks of their respective companies.
Content Marketing Inst.
Businesses are flocking to video content marketing as an efficient and wickedly effective content tactic. But the focus on making the video often overshadows the marketing of it. And winning followers on YouTube requires different strategies than doing so through other types of content marketing.
We conducted a YouTube video study of the Top 100 brands from Interbrand’s 2012 Best Global Brands. After analyzing 200,000 business videos across 1,270 YouTube channels, we discovered more than 50 percent had fewer than 1,000 views. ROI fail.
First, let’s look at the facts. Our study of Interbrand’s Top 100 shows YouTube video production in that cohort increased from 4,760 videos per month to 7,175 per month, with an aggregate production value of more than $4.3 billion.
The research also shows that brands — including Coca-Cola and Toyota — are not just creating effective YouTube channels, they’re also embedding YouTube videos on their own websites. In fact, 61 of the Top 100 brands now embed YouTube videos on their websites (further blurring the lines between digital channels). We’re also noticing more diverse video methods and styles. Intel, for one, effectively combines both professionally produced content with user-generated content.
So how is it that brands are investing so much in online video, but are reaching so few followers? Is it a content issue? Maybe, but after analyzing millions of videos, we think it’s acontent marketing issue. Specifically, the top 100 brands — along with the rest of the YouTube ecosystem — are burning their online video budgets on video production, while ignoring an equally important element: video content marketing.
Search Engine Watch
Whether you’ve already decided to go responsive or you’re still considering a responsive site redesign, there are some things you’ll need to look out for from an SEO standpoint.
Above the fold issues, content strategy, internal links, and mobile specifics can trip you up.
Before we begin, there’s an important distinction between cosmetic and full redesigns. This distinction primarily comes down to one thing: are URLs on your site changing? Changing URLs is a game changer and adds a number of steps that you need to take in order to have a successful transition from an old site to a shiny new one.
The following analysis focuses on common issues with cosmetic redesigns, moving from a non-responsive site to a responsive website design.
Homepage Above The Fold Area (Desktop)
This is where it starts to get awkward with the web designers. The thing to keep in mind as project owner broadly, and as a SEO specifically, is to make your wishes known to the designers early in the process, prior to and during the wireframe process.
Direct Marketing News
While B2C marketing has matured significantly over the past two decades, the B2B world remains stuck in the Stone Age, says Jim Swift, president and CEO of B2B insights provider Cortera.
“Companies are going through this process of trying to understand who their companies are [and] figure out how to get more like them, and they’re still relying on demographic data largely,” Swift says. By contrast, B2C marketers have evolved past that stage and are now using online and purchase behavior data to make decisions.
Swift partially attributes B2B’s late-bloomer development to the challenge of discovering innovative ways to describe businesses. Traditionally, these businesses use Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, (which are four digit business identification codes assigned by the U.S. government), sales volumes, or employee headcount. Swift also says that the large number of privately-owned businesses, which aren’t obliged to release financial figures, can also hinder business’s abilities to build profiles and indentify prospects. According to research by Harvard University and New York University, there are approximately 6 million private employer firms in the United States.
