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 06/24/2013 - 06/26/2013 San Francisco CA

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15 Stats Brands Should Know About Mobile

April 10th, 2013

Digiday

Mobile’s not a nice-to-have anymore. The year of mobile might be hard to pinpoint, but there’s little doubt we’re entering a post-desktop era of ubiquitous computing and media consumption.

Here are 15 stats that all brands should know about mobile.

The U.S. is at 101 percent wireless penetration. (CTIA)

1 billion smartphones will be shipped globally this year. (Gartner)

Apple beats all other phone manufacturers in customer satisfaction for smartphones. (J.D. Power and Associates)

59 percent of mobile users are as comfortable with mobile advertising as they are with TV and online ads. (InMobi)

85 percent of mobile users prefer mobile apps over the mobile Web. (Compuware)

For more stats click here

 

Categories: Mobile Blog, Mobile Research | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Upgrade Your Content Strategy: 3 Brand Builders

April 9th, 2013

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.

1. Move past the content marketing mainstream

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.

Read more… 

Categories: Advertising & Marketing Blog, Digital Media Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Does Technology Makes Us Smarter Or Dumber?

April 5th, 2013

IDGE Does Technology Makes Us Smarter Or Dumber?

By, Michael Friedenberg 

Exhibit A: I was driving up Silicon Valley’s Route 101 in northern California last month when I noticed a strange-looking SUV in front of me. On its roof was a tripod structure topped with a spinning cylinder. Out of curiosity, I sped up and pulled even with the driver’s side. Inside I saw a man in the driver’s seat, kicked back and relaxing with a People magazine. I realized this was one of Google’s self-driving cars, which were being tested in the area.

Exhibit B: Home sick with the flu one day, I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and his guest was Missy Cummings, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. She was talking about how drones are changing the future of battle. They’re not only more effective, but also cheaper to build and fly. Organizations that use drones can also save a ton of money by not putting resources towards “an expensive pilot that costs millions of dollars to train.” The professor noted that within a few years, the technology will likely move into the commercial space, where companies such as UPS and FedEx might use drones to ship packages across the United States.

Continue reading… 

 

Categories: Tech Business & Marketing Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brands Name Their Top Mobile Myths

April 2nd, 2013


Digiday

There is no Santa Claus. The tooth fairy isn’t real. And this is not the year of mobile. Mobile marketing, like a lot of other digital tactics, is full of myths and misconceptions. Digiday spoke to brand executives to get a sense of what these myths and misconceptions are. The gist: Mobile is a mindset, not a technology, and consumers are using their phones for more than just social networking and playing games.

Barbara Williams-Pamplin, mobile marketing global practice lead, Microsoft

The biggest misconception about mobile marketing is that due to the computing power of the current generation of smartphones and the tablet’s screen size, mobile-first experiences are not a priority. The misconception is based on the idea that viewing the “normal” Web is technically feasible on these devices, so there is no need to create experiences especially for these devices. However, that approach fails to take into consideration several facts. First, consumers don’t use all devices in the same way or for the same purpose, so content and input methodology needs are different. Also, consumers will move on to look for another source of info (competitor if necessary) if they are unable to find what they are looking for on the mobile site visited. And, lastly, a poor non-mobile optimized experience can and will negatively impact the consumer’s perception of the brand.

Read more… 

Categories: Mobile Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Marketing 2013: No Room for Mad Men

April 1st, 2013

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.

Continue reading… 

Categories: Advertising & Marketing Blog, Digital Media Blog, Lead Generation Blog, Mobile Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Video Content Marketing: 4 Elements of An Effective Strategy

March 26th, 2013

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.

Enter the YouTube nation

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.

Continue reading… 

Categories: Digital Media Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

B2B Data: It’s Not About the What, It’s About the Why

March 25th, 2013

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.

http://bit.ly/Zl6rgo

 

Categories: Advertising & Marketing Blog, Digital Media Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Shifts Of Change: The New Email Paradigm

March 25th, 2013

MediaPost

Having observed the email marketing industry the last 15 years, I’ve come to the conclusion that our beloved channel is entering its next phase: adulthood.

Although I foresee no really revolutionary changes that would immediately disrupt email marketing, several shifts are happening now that require your attention and action.

If not, your company could get passed up by more forward-thinking and nimble competitors, leaving significant revenue on the table, under-serving customers, and undercutting your other marketing channel.

These shifts are helping to create a new email-marketing paradigm with six essential buckets of ideas:

Deliverability: From obstacle to competitive advantage. Smart email marketers recognize that everyone is dealt a pretty level deliverability playing field. So, rather than bemoaning ISPs, blocklists, spam traps, etc., they are becoming proactive and deploying practices to stay ahead of competitors in inbox placement

Continue reading… 

Categories: Digital Media Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Native Advertising Is Bad News

March 22nd, 2013

Digiday

Native advertising is a more insidious encroachment into consumer media content than any prior form of advertising. Billions of banner ad impressions may annoy readers, but they don’t misdirect users by disguising the source of the message — and this is exactly what native does. If publishers and marketers aren’t careful, they are going to poison the well of digital ad communications by breaking consumer trust.

First, understand why publishers are so tempted to make native their future. Digital outlets are getting creamed by RTB on online ad inventory that avoids the comparatively high prices publishers charge for ads. If you want to reach a business executive, you could pay The Wall Street Journal a $17 CPM on its website, or you could use DSP audience targeting to reach the same executives at a $2.50 CPM. eMarketer estimates RTB will account for 19 percent of all U.S. display advertising in 2013, and if you factor in the lower costs per impression, that translates to about 44 percent of all online display impressions. (Any publisher saying RTB is substandard ad inventory must now be prepared to explain why nearly half of her inventory is lousy.)

Publishers see native as a way to convince marketers to spend more directly with them — and to charge higher ad rates. Like all marketing intrusions, native has a spectrum of annoyance; I classify it into three categories: “The Frame,” “The Insertion” and “The Misdirection.” At each level, native is growing more problematic.

Read more… 

Categories: Digital Media Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Secret to Marketing to the Line-of-Business Executive

March 22nd, 2013

IDC PMS4colorversion 1 The Secret to Marketing to the Line of Business Executive

 

Technology Marketing Blog

Many technology companies have directed their marketing and sales teams to look for business beyond the traditional IT customer.  The secret to marketing to the line-of-business executive is to think like they do. Huh? Is this a secret?

Terriers+1 The Secret to Marketing to the Line of Business Executive

Imagine you have a cute little terrier that you love dearly but who chews up everything in sight.  You fear that you will have to give the dog away if he keeps wrecking things.  As a super-busy person you rarely have time to read articles, however, one of the articles below will stop you in your tracks. Which one?
a) Animals around Our Home
b) Dogs: What do they do every day?
c) Why We Love Terriers
d) How to Stop Terriers from Destroying Your Home

You know that the answer is D.  And if each of the authors had a dog training business, which one are you most likely to contact?

Everyone gravitates toward things that they believe are made “just for me” and ignores things that are made for “someone else”.  It doesn’t matter if you are trying to get the attention of the Chief Marketing Officer, the Vice President of Human Resources, the head of pediatric medicine, or a  terrier owner. The more completely you enter to your customer’s world, the more likely you are to be successful with them.

Continue reading… 

Categories: Advertising & Marketing Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,