Since the 1950s, advertorials and product placements emerged, and, as the internet and online commerce took hold, Amazon blazed trails by serving up book recommendations to users based on their previous purchases and online behaviors. Today, these sorts of activities-designed to deliver advertising content, online or via mobile devices, to consumers who have demonstrated their potential interest in the product or service-are known as native advertising. The practice lives on a continuum between "annoying" and "useful," depending on the perspective of the consumer. The goal for marketers is to land somewhere closer to the useful end of the spectrum.
Posted Jul 28, 2014
When that content is finished, and ready for the world to see, we want to put our best foot forward. We not only want to present it in a way that we are happy with but we need to present it in a way that ensures the most amount of attention is paid to it. There are many different tools to make sure your content gets its due, but today we will focus on six.
Posted Jul 24, 2014
Brainstorming about the future of digital consumption can leave you overwhelmed by the possibilities, but data released from YouGov--a global research and consulting organization--sheds some light on the emerging expectations of today's youth. The study found that nearly one in two children, aged 8-15, feel that access to online content and downloads should be free.
Posted Jul 23, 2014
According to the "Online Personal Experience" study by Janrain, more than half (57%) of people are just fine with providing personal information to a website and as long as they benefit and the information is used responsibly. Janrain also found that 77% would be more trusting of companies collecting private data if the businesses were transparent about how the information would be used. But that's where the trouble lies. Many content providers are still struggling to use the information they collect in a way that truly improves the customer experience.
Posted Jul 21, 2014
TigerLogic Corporation announced it has added several new creative features to Postano, its flagship social product and visual marketing platform. The Postano version 2.5 release includes advanced social filtering options, a Style Editor for custom visualizations, new dynamic data visualizations, and other platform enhancements. Postano provides a platform that allows brands to creatively work with user generated content in new ways to develop campaigns. With Postano 2.5, brands now have the ability to customize their visualizations on the fly with added intelligence for approving content.
Posted Jul 17, 2014
Smaato, an independent global mobile Real-Time Bidding (RTB) ad exchange (SMX) and Supply Side Platform, announced the launch of the Smaato Self-Serve Publisher Platform (SPP), an enterprise grade mobile-first ad server.
Posted Jul 17, 2014
Few companies have the potential to dramatically alter the electronic content landscape like Google, which continues to regularly roll out new apps, tools and technologies that make digital publishers sit up and take notice. It's a big reason why Google's annual I/O conference is so closely watched by players in the industry. I/O 2014, held in late June, didn't fail to excite those eager to read the tech tea leaves and develop forward-thinking strategies for success. Here are five of the top takeaways from the conference of importance to content providers.
Posted Jul 16, 2014
A new study by Adaptly, Facebook, and lifestyle website Refinery29 has found that in digital advertising, sequencing ads that take individual consumers down the marketing funnel achieves better outcomes than a sustained call to action (CTA) message delivered over the same period of time. According to the report, sequencing ads on a personalized level increases overall view-throughs by 87% and conversions by 56%. Conducted in May 2014, the research was designed to help inform advertisers about how to improve their creative diagnostics, optimal frequency, and sequencing within Facebook.
Posted Jul 15, 2014
Covario, Inc., a leading independent search and content marketing firm, issued its Global Paid Search Spend Analysis for the second quarter of 2014, reporting that first half spending on pay-per-click advertising (PPC) by its enterprise technology, B2B, consumer electronics, and retail clients had a strong finish, rising 21% above the second quarter of 2013 and 2% ahead of this year's first quarter.
Posted Jul 15, 2014
Cloudwords, a cloud-based marketing globalization platform, announced Campaign Manager, a new enterprise-ready solution to provide marketers with a single strategic lens into all elements of multi-channel, multi-system, multilingual campaigns, programs and initiatives, allowing marketers to effectively plan, execute and track the localization of all marketing content for global launches.
Posted Jul 15, 2014
When the story of digital media is analyzed by scholars in the coming decades, I expect they will locate the current mobile migration as a critical moment in communication history. This is when the final shreds of 20th-century mass media were shed. This is when media consumption was, at last, completely detached from predictable settings and circumstances. Personalized, on-demand, fully untethered devices radically disrupt a media and advertising ecology that, during a century, had targeted its wares at morning newspaper readers, radio-prime-time and drive-time listeners, TV-prime-time viewers, and web office/home hours, etc. Sometime in the early 21st century, historians will recount that context became a fluid, highly fragmented concept.
Posted Jul 15, 2014
ActionX, a provider of mobile app and cross-screen retargeting, announced significant upgrades to its proprietary dynamic creative engine. Launched in Q4 of 2013, ActionX incorporates behavioral data into dynamic creative across mobile devices. The enhancements revealed include a new Mobile Pop-Up Shop rich media ad unit, which allows for expandable ad units that are informed by first party data.
Posted Jul 10, 2014
Most of us are familiar with using social media to post status updates about our vacation, photos of our family, funny videos we find on YouTube, or tweeting about our favorite sports team. However, when it comes to using social media for business purposes, it is important to understand that the rules are different. Anything you post can be considered a form of consumer advertising; as such, you need to be careful not to post misleading or false information. This is especially true if you work in a regulated industry such as financial services, banking, healthcare, law, or pharmaceutical.
Posted Jul 09, 2014
Metamarkets announced the launch of a real-time analytics platform for programmatic advertising. The technology enables exchanges such as Chartboost, Flurry, Inneractive, Millennial Media, MobPro, MoPub, OpenX, Smaato, and Vungle to visualize billions of events as they happen and to share live analytics with clients and partners.
Posted Jul 08, 2014
There's really no escaping it. No matter how innovative your use of the latest tools and technologies in digital marketing may be, no matter how closely you follow industry trends and implement solutions that reflect the cutting edge in digital marketing practices, it will always come down to the bottom line-at least, as far as your C-level executives are concerned. Being able to demonstrate the dollar-for-dollar benefit that your marketing efforts provide to your organization is the elusive brass ring that marketers are perpetually striving to grasp.
Posted Jul 07, 2014
Widen Enterprises, a provider of digital asset management (DAM) software, launched new content distribution and collaboration features with version 7.2 of the Widen Media Collective. The latest version of Widen's flagship DAM system will make it easier for creative and marketing teams to manage complex projects, distribute content, and track engagement across the internet.
Posted Jul 03, 2014
newBrandAnalytics (nBA), a social intelligence expert for consumer-centric businesses, announced its newest product offering. Pulse is cloud-based software that helps customers gain real-time visibility into trending topics and conversations that impact their brand and product perception.
Posted Jul 03, 2014
Now if publishers like the New York Times can offer such a variety of digital options for consumers to choose from, why can't they give advertisers more options when placing a digital ad to reach those consumers? Giving people choices works. And if print subscriptions have decreased, wouldn't it make more sense for media companies to focus on creating more dynamic digital ad options for customers looking to advertise?
Posted Jul 03, 2014
Have you ever watched teenagers play "Call of Duty" for hours on end and wondered what kind of magic keeps these users so deeply engaged? More importantly, have you ever wondered how you might be able to use this magic to engage your customers? It's not magic. It's gamification. Companies have been employing this technique for years--decades, even--but over the past few years, digital marketers have started to realize that gamification can take their campaigns to new levels.
Posted Jun 30, 2014
ADAM Software, a Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Product Content Management (PCM) software provider, announced that it has entered into a strategic sales and technology partnership with Sitecore, the global leader in customer experience management.
Posted Jun 26, 2014
Great content creation does not have to start with being a great writer. Let's take me for instance: I am a husband and father in my mid-30's with little time on my hands for anything outside of family, church, and work. Literally, that's about all I can handle. But you are asking yourself, how did you become such a damn good writer? (Thank you by the way). And how do you make time for it in your tremendously busy schedule? Well friends, here is my secret: I study copywriting.
Posted Jun 26, 2014
Entravision Communications Corporation, a diversified Spanish-language media company, announced that it has acquired Pulpo Media, Inc., a leading provider of digital advertising services and solutions focused on Hispanics in the U.S. and Latin America. The transaction will be funded from Entravision's cash on hand, and includes an initial payment of approximately $15 million and up to $3 million in contingent earn out payments based upon the achievement of certain performance benchmarks.
Posted Jun 24, 2014
The government is sitting up and taking notice of what it calls a growing threat to online safety and security: malware attacks. And if the industry isn't more careful, it may be forced to abide by stricter rules and oversight governing online advertisements that could come down the pike.
Posted Jun 20, 2014
DigiTrust is the first non-profit, industry-wide collaborative organization that will build technology solutions that improve the digital experience for consumers, publishers, advertisers, and technology platform. Just launched, DigiTrust was founded by twenty of the leading digital advertising technology platforms including 33Across, Casale Media, Centro, Dstillery, OpenX, PubMatic, Rubicon Project, RUN, Sizmek, and SpotXchange. As a first order of business, DigiTrust plans to take on the challenge of reducing the number of third-party requests on web pages.
Posted Jun 19, 2014
Being an omnivore can have its advantages-as evidenced by the evolutionary dominance humans have enjoyed over other animals that only eat meat or plants. Likewise, being an omnichannel marketer may give you a leg up on your competition in the survival-of-the-fittest game of appealing to contemporary consumers, say the experts.
Posted Jun 18, 2014