Good Read: Drake Morton

Tuning In To Media-savvy Girls:

10 Things To Know

By Denise Restauri  Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

1. This is the time of the girl – we’ve seen it coming, and it’s here. Global organizations focusing on girl “upliftment,” serving future family “upliftment” is working. There are now more girls in U.S. universities than boys.

2. Address the “missing in media” puzzle. Geena Davis Institute on Gender Media:

Myth: Gender imbalance issues have gotten better. Fact: Statistically, there has been little forward movement for girls in media for six decades.

3. Youngster media queens are naturally on the rise. “It wouldn’t be fair for all the girls to buy princess and all the boys to buys superheroes cause… [some] girls want superheroes.” Check out 4-year old Riley on Marketing.

4. Know it and show it: Girls are into what they are into. They are a self-feeding society. Businesses that are on the outside need to get inside.

5. Sharers, creators and carers. They’ll share the “wow” stuff, and if such stuff isn’t out there, they’ll create it.

6. Real, extreme, & fantasy. Girls want to know about real girls doing real things (changing the world), and they want fantasy and extreme. They want it all.
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Good News for Retailers: Drake Morton

Facebook Commerce Holds Promise for Retailers

January 20, 2012

Social networks don’t account for much

eCommerce yet, but heavy Facebook users see it as a one-stop shop

Retailers are still in the early stages of using social media as a sales vehicle, but the channel is poised for growth. Booz & Company estimated that $1 billion in goods would be sold through social media in the US in 2011. That figure is expected to triple in 2012 and reach $14 billion by 2015.

Social media and ecommerce have evolved since 1-800-FLOWERS launched the first Facebook storefront in July 2009. Internet users have become more comfortable with online buying on Facebook as they spend more time on the site.

“It is not surprising that shopping and socializing—activities that complement each other in the real world—are beginning to converge online as well,” said Krista Garcia, eMarketer analyst and author of the new report, “Facebook Commerce: Reaching Shoppers Where They Socialize.” “As social media, and Facebook in particular, plays a larger role in consumers’ lives, people are becoming accustomed to performing routine tasks like reading news, watching videos and listening to music, as well as discovering products and shopping, all while staying logged in to a single site. Instead of compartmentalizing daily routines, social media users are treating Facebook as a one-stop platform.”

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Good Read: Drake Morton

Google Gets Touchier

by Derek Gordon , Monday, Dec. 12, 2011

Google’s found new ways to bring advertising to your fingertips.  And it’s being pretty clever about it.

First, the clever part: Google formally unveiled its new Flipboard competitor called Currents last week.  The sparkly new news aggregation tool doesn’t quite look as good as Flipboard, nor is it as good at leveraging a reader’s social graph, but it does one thing most of the other “magazines” of this kind don’t: it offers an impressive array of full-text stories, thanks to an agreement with more than 150 publications.

You can choose content you want to subscribe to after downloading the app to your iPhone, iPad or Android device; you can also get content via RSS, Google+ feeds, Google Reader feeds, and video and photo feeds. One very cool thing it does: automatically sync all your subscribed content, so you can read it when you’re offline.
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Good Read: Drake Morton

Video is Evolving — Don’t Get Left Behind

by Craig Wax , Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011
Consumer usage of video is increasing at an astonishing rate. Cisco has estimated that video will increase from 30% of Internet traffic in 2010 to 90% by 2013. Online retailers are already using video, and service companies, manufacturing, and many others are also hopping on board. The scope of businesses that employ video and the different uses for video are expanding.

The message is clear: Consumers expect online video as a central element of a company’s communications strategy. No matter what sector of business you are in, incorporating video is an essential step in preparing yourself for the future of marketing.

73% of online retailers use video on product pages, which means that if you’re a retailer and you don’t have video on your site, you are officially in the minority, according to eMarketer. Other sectors of business are beginning to follow suit. A recent survey by Industrial Marketing Today  found that 50% of B2B manufacturers use YouTube as a channel to connect with their customers. Even service companies such as Charles Schwab are starting  to include videos on their websites.

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Need to Know: Drake Morton
by Bryan Boettger , Friday, Nov. 11, 2011

10 Factors Of Viral Propensity 

I don’t believe you can make a “.” There. I said it.

However, you can game the system. In a media landscape where earned media continues to gain greater and greater importance, we find ourselves consulting brands on analytical ways to judge a qualitative product. A way to judge propensity.

And, sometimes, you can do it by analyzing 10 factors…

1. Authenticity
. It can be planned out, but the video must feel in-the-moment. No one wants to be a shill for your blatant marketing.

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Need to Know: Drake Morton

Click Rates – Online Video Ad Metrics

General benchmarks nonexistent as CTR varies by industry, demographic and more

Benchmarks are often important markers for advertisers looking to estimate initial campaign performance and approximate competitor efforts. As online video, a subset of the larger display industry, continues to gain momentum, marketers are increasingly looking for video ad benchmarks to justify increased campaign budget and online video investment. (more…)

Good Read: Drake Morton

3 Tips for Delivering the

Content Your Audience Wants

By Loren McDonald, Vice President of Industry Relations

What’s most important to your email marketing and lead-nurturing efforts? It’s probably some combination of building relationships, increasingly loyalty, moving buyers through the sales cycle and, of course, turning your messages into revenue. Delivering the right message–content that educates, engages and entices recipients to perform the action you want–is essential to all of these goals.

With carefully planned strategy and the correct tools, you can improve the likelihood of providing the content your contacts are looking for–especially if you nail the right timing for your message. Here are a few tips for building your content so you deliver messaging that resonates strongly. (more…)

Interesting Read: Drake Morton

Why Google+ Matters

by David Berkowitz , Thursday, July 7, 2011

I’m done writing about Google+, at least for today. Fortunately, I have enough material for a column thanks to the powers of crowdsourcing — the act of tapping the community to achieve a common objective. In this case, I posted a message on Google+, publicly asking, “Why does Google+ matter?”
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Good Read: Drake Morton

Email Decision-Making: Beyond Revenue or

Best Practices

by Loren McDonald, Thursday, April 21, 2011

“Where should I put the unsubscribe link?” “Should I use a prechecked box to increase opt-ins?” “Should I send email to the addresses we collected via business cards gathered at trade shows three years ago?”

Whenever someone asks questions like these about email marketing, the answer has seemingly been pretty easy: “It depends, so test it. When in doubt, follow the generally accepted best practice.”

But, like everything else in the email world, I believe the conversation has become much more complex, and the easy answer often isn’t the right one.

At one time, we might have cited the best practice as the only way to answer questions like these or to plan out an email program. That might be the right answer if you work in an optimal situation, with an understanding management, a clean list, a healthy budget and so on.
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Good Read: Drake Morton

 More On The New Time Lag:

Not Your Father’s Metric Any More

by Anto Chittilappilly , Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Today’s more sophisticated online consumers — coupled with today’s more multichannel marketers — have created a marketing ecosystem where the traditional definition of “lag time” is no longer sufficient.   Simply put, limiting one’s analysis to the time between the last interaction with an online display ad and an eventual conversion, is like putting blinders on — effectively ignoring other “time factors” such as:

·       Time lag from First Impression to First Conversion

·       Time lag from Last Impression to First Conversion

·       Time lag from First Click to First Conversion

·       Time lag from Last Click to First Conversion

·       Time lag from First Website Visit to First Conversion (more…)