Podcast Ads for Low CAC and High Scale

The worst-kept secret about me is that I love podcasts. I listen to them when I'm sitting on the train, walking to the grocery store, and working out in the gym. Specifically, I passionately follow histories covering a wide variety of topics and eras, such as the Roman Empire, the Haitian Revolution, and the rise of the Mongols. You know, real nerd stuff. I love listening so much that I give literally hundreds of hours of my time to listen to every detail, every decree and every battle, and so you can bet that if somebody's about to do something nefarious and say Livia did it, I'll be
listening.

So it made me happy when a recent TechCrunch article touted the financial benefits of supporting those who entertain and enlighten me. It makes sense, to target such loyal listeners, right?

It turns out that there is a lot of money on the table, and there are benefits to marketers who get in on the action early.

Some figures from the article:

Autonomous and digital marketing

With the competition seen between Netflix, Disney, Amazon and the likes, it looks like consumers have far more content that they can chew. In the US, consumers already spend 50% of their digital time on mobile and 32% on desktop.

According to Hollywood Report, content spending between the top 6 media companies will spend the below in annual budget on content production.

• Disney: $24 billion

• NBCUniversal: $13 billion

• WarnerMedia: $11 billion

• Netflix: $10.5 billion

• Amazon: $8.6 billion

• Apple: $1 billion

There are signs that consumers are having platform fatigue, and the age of platform aggregator might be upon us. A good example of the change in business model can be found in Roku. Roku is a platform aggregator whereby consumers can be content specific versus platform specific. This allows consumers to curate their content preference without platform loyalty. Roku’s business model is ad driven and this is a great avenue for digital/video advertising.

Now imagine with the roll out of autonomous vehicles, what are drivers/passengers going to do with their free time? On average, Americans spend 17,600 mins driving a year. This translates to about 67 mins a day or about 15 billion additionally media consumption hours. This is previously untapped white space for content and future marketing opportunity. There could be new business models that content companies could market to drivers. Short form entertainment content, or, a programming segment where advertisers could bid for ad space by page rank based on customer’s preference. 

BERT

Google BERT technology was introduced in later 2018 and has been used by Bing, now Google decided to use BERT.

The article interestingly explains how BERT algorithm would change the SEO and digital marketing scene.
BERT would help to optimize the voice search result, which would be one of the trends in upcoming years.
And because of the improved accuracy of search result, the contents must have further relevancy. Flip side is that relevancy would be more important in content creation.

https://www.cmswire.com/digital-marketing/how-google-bert-will-impact-seo-and-marketing/

The CMO is now the cDmo - Really

This week, Unilever, one of the world's largest global consumer packaged goods companies, announced they will be replacing their long time Chief Marketing Officer, Keith Weed, with a Chief Digital and Marketing Officer (to be Conny Braams). The business explained this role as a "CMO++" with a task to future-fit the organization for the speed of change that is certain to come in the digital world. The role will focus on the digital revolution that we studied in many aspects throughout our class.

Unilever is one of several global corporations to morph away from the traditional CMO role in a move towards digital. Uber, Coca-cola, and McDonalds are considering similar changes to their CMO role. The way brands talk and interact with consumers is changing and the old rules of consumer marketing are changing as consumer look for new ways to engage with brands. Companies are up-skilling their marketers to think "digital first" as they are losing market share to local startups who are more digital and more agile.

With the announcement of new leadership, change is certain to trickle down through the rest of the Unilever organization as digital takes on new focus. The traditional consumer marketer will be more focused on digital platforms in the years to come, while consumer relationships and always on media will be demanded for any brand. If we needed proof that Digital Marketing concepts and tools are here to stay, this is it. Winning through Digital Marketing has reached the top prioritization of the biggest organizations.

To read more about the newly created role: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/12/03/unilever-appoints-conny-braams-chief-digital-and-marketing-officer

Facebook Testing a Way to Let You Move Photos to Rival Sites

Facebook announced this week that their testing in Ireland the ability to transfer FB photos and videos to Google - portability of files - to appease European regulators. Will this be sufficient? 

Probably not.

The story here.

Forbes Publishes List of 5 Boldest Media and Tech Companies of 2019

Forbes just published its list of the 5 boldest media and tech companies of 2019. The list praised companies that took the biggest bets in the past year.

The top five according to Forbes are:

1. Netflix, for raising its content buying from $13 billion to $15 billion
2. Disney, for launching Disney+, forgoing licensing deals to keep its powerhouse brands in-house, and launching at an aggressive price of $6.99, with a $12.99 bundle option to add Hulu and ESPN+, matching Netflix's price with a powerful offering
3. TikTok for, well, being TikTok. The social media/video sharing service has been growing rapidly, especially among teens, and announced plans to take on Spotify directly in 2020 by launching its own streaming service.
4. Magic Leap, an augmented reality firm, for raising gobs of money. It raised hundreds of millions of dollars in 2019 to increase its total investment to $2.6 billion. In very competitive space with looming competition, this is certainly bold.
5. Synthesia, a media AI startup, for making progress on automatic synthetic video creation. I won't touch on the ethical and political challenges that this poses - but it is amazing technology. To see an example, you can watch this David Beckham philanthropic video, which features more convincing foreign-language dubbing using the technology.

The big takeways from the Forbes article:

• 2019 saw enormous investment into streaming services as competition heats up
• Media tech companies are still raising billions of dollars to change media is generated, delivered, and consumed

Popular Visual Search Products / Keywords

The trend of visual search is unstoppable, and the technologies are getting more advanced. Search engines like Bing and Google are using visual search, while e-commerce platforms like ASOS, Taobao, Target are also incorporating visual search to make the product selection / purchasing in brand new ways. 

This visual search trend will open up more channels for digital marketers. I was only thinking about fashion and shopping when it comes to visual search, but the following article provides more products / keywords that are popular with the visual search: 

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/visual-search-brands/260897/#close 

Cartoon Customer Service

I read an interesting article this week about Powerfront Inside, an online customer service tool that’s being adopted by high end brands like Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf’s and Sephora. The tool provides an interface for customer service agents to visualize online shoppers – as cartoons! Customers are color coded according to their value (determined by past purchases) and they show an array of emotions: happy, angry, hesitant. 

Customers themselves have no idea that they’re being observed shopping as cute little cartoons on a customer service agent’s desktop. But it allows agents to apply more of a human touch when they can visualize customer’s emotions and intent, compared to a basic chat box. The tool also shows valuable information like customer’s country, device type, items in basket and chat history. This allows customer services to really understand the customer and provide a higher level of service.

Esports as a channel for digital marketing

Esports generated approximately $700MM in revenue in 2017 with +40% in growth rates. It is estimated that global eSport audience currently has 385MM people, with 191MM enthusiasts and 194MM occasional viewers.

Sponsorship revenue is expected to reach $266MM in 2017, while ad spending will hit $155MM. This still pales in comparison to $1.25B haul from the NFL. The digital marketing avenue is unexplored and offers many possibilities.

For one, direct product placement could be built into the game itself. Additionally, the demographic audience reach customers that might be previously unattainable through traditional sports, news and general entertainment audiences. While there are some experts that claim that eSport will not get the adoption it needs without TV presence, I would argue that if the eSport programmatic can be adopted into mobile form factor, and give audiences the ability to store, pause, slow-down or fast forward, it would potentially be a new form of consumable content that is comparable to syndicated/linear programming. This would potential upend the entire media eco-system as we know it.

Honey

Don't hate me, but what I am about to share is a Forbes.com article. I know, I know we all dislike the UX design of paid ad after paid ad....and then pop up video. Lets also not forget the cringe-worthy automatically enabled audio!
Below I thought was a great quote about Honey's value proposition:

Honey offers stickiness, frictionless design, and persistent value–informed by precise persona and journey-mapping. Despite the initial onboarding friction of installing a browser plug-in, Honey fulfills its promise of decreasing the time and energy needed to find online deals. Customers who have buried themselves in pages of Google search results in the past looking for working promo codes can now instantly identify and apply them using Honey.

Full article can be found here: (Forbes)

Livestream Marketing on Alibaba Single's Day

Nearly everyone has watched one or two Livestream marketing videos on e-commerce platforms such as Taobao Alibaba. Livestream generates more than $15.1 billion of gross merchandise volume in 2018, and the number is sure to grow much bigger this year. This is becoming a big trend and Alibaba is collaborating with other Livestream and video platforms like TikTok.

Seeing products in motion seems to be more reliable than on photos, with someone showing how to use it / wearing it increases credibility. Some brands also collaborate with KOLs. Even celebrities turn to Livestream marketers, as clicks and "likes" turn into sales and cash quickly.

See these articles: 

https://www.alizila.com/how-livestreaming-is-transforming-e-commerce-in-china/

https://www.parklu.com/live-streaming-sell-china-ecommerce/

Black Friday! How to Convert Consumers Into Year-Round Customers

https://www.retaildive.com/spons/how-to-transform-black-friday-shoppers-into-year-round-customers/566865/

It's Black Friday next week, which means a lot of shopping and a lot of digital marketing! Of course, I ironically found a sponsored article (content marketing!) about this topic. But, the article shares some important information for those who aren't up to speed on the ins and outs of Black Friday consumerism.

Notably, the customer lifetime value of a customer acquired on Black Friday is lower and spans a shorter amount of time. So what is a marketer to do?

You can create a highly targeted email campaign that addresses the consumers' needs. You should also be ensuring that this campaign creates an experience for them that is engaging and top notch, and that also leverages multiple channels.

Don't forget that these consumers have the potential to buy again and again during the holiday season - and they will remember how the experience went during the first purchase. If you provide quality experiences, including customer service, they are more likely to be repeat purchasers.

Chatbots as a digital marketing trend

From the below article a lot of the referenced trends I have seen as habit forming for myself and my peers however the trend that is coming that I have not seen tangibly deployed by companies yet are chatbots. While many companies will have basic chatbots at landing pages this one-way promotional marketing feels relatively dated. Moving forward using chatbots on facebook or other social media
could utilise AI to respond to customers queries live to improve their NPS as well as increase customer stickiness by creating a two-way dialogue with loyal engaged customers.

The Rise of Smart Speakers

This one may be strange to see on a digital marketing trends list, but hear (pun intended) us out. Smart speakers like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod have made waves in the consumer technology market over the past couple of years. And consumers love them: 65% of smart speaker owners say they wouldn’t want to go back to life without their voice-controlled assistant.

So how does this tie in with digital marketing? We will likely see more and more online publications embrace voice and publish audio content to these devices. They'll do this in hopes of landing a sport on listener’s “Flash Briefing”, encouraging their followers to follow daily.

Furthermore, we expect to see more ads on these platforms—after all, publications need to monetize content. Amazon, Google, and Apple may very well launch their own advertising platforms for this, making it easier for companies to buy and sell ad space. Think Adwords but for your Google Home.

Stories and Full Screen Content Will Take Center Stage

2019 saw the continued growth of things like Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories, and Snapchat stories.

These full screen pieces of immersive content are ephemeral, casual, and fun, and their mobile-first design make them perfect pieces of social media for the modern digital nomad. Plus, the casual style and fun designs give them an authentic feel and make them immune to getting buried deep in a feed by a fickle algorithm. If you weren’t convinced, TechCrunch reported that Stories are growing a whopping 15 times faster than feeds!

Augmented and Virtual Reality Will Continue to Grow

In September of 2019, Facebook launched Horizon, a social hub for its Oculus virtual reality headset users. This is surprising to exactly nobody, since Facebook has been increasing their efforts in the virtual reality space since they acquired Oculus VR in 2014.

We predict that the rise of VR spaces will create new, immersive advertising environments for businesses that can’t be simply skimmed over. Social media in VR is quite literally larger than life, and we think that practical applications of virtual and augmented reality are only going to increase in 2020.

For a more bite-sized version of this, look at the popularity of those AR Snapchat filters that placed dancing figures wherever you pointed your camera, putting a brand figure or logo in a space that’s personal to each user. It’s a fun and emerging tech that will give brands brave enough to work with it a major edge.

“Hidden Likes” Will Promote Community-First Content

Instagram has been experimenting with not showing likes to users, but rather hiding them to everyone but the poster. The idea is to reduce the “peer pressure” effect and creating more of a meritocracy for content makers, which in turn helps nurture community and smaller creators. 

First rolled out in Canada in May of 2019, the feature has been expanded to Australia, Brazil, Italy and more. We think that this move reflects a trend towards focusing on community over status chasing. As platforms focus on developing quality, ad-friendly content that can be monetized for both users and platforms, there’s a move towards promoting community and connection. It’s an encouraging and surprisingly wholesome trend we’ll be keeping our eye on in 2020.  

Social Media Will Be More Deeply Integrated Into Other Services

Social media companies will continue to integrate their services into third-party applications. For example, like how Facebook and LinkedIn allow users to sign up for third-party services with their accounts and share data with third-party services

We expect this trend to continue and for social platforms to become even more integrated with other services. Social media apps may start to share more user data with their audiences and create a more seamless experience across third-party apps. This helps social media companies retain their dominance, gain more info about users, and provide better services for smaller websites and apps.

Live Video Will Keep Growing

It’s no secret that YouTube, Facebook and Instagram’s live video services made waves in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. In fact, in 2016 more than 80% of internet users watched more live video than the year prior—likely due to the rise of more modern streaming services. 

Don’t let your brand be late to the live video bandwagon. 67% of live viewers say they are more likely to purchase a concert ticket to see a band or attend an event if they’ve seen a live stream of a similar event online.

Furthermore, 45% of live audiences would pay to see a favorite athlete, team, or performer on an online stream. Check out Facebook’s recent Facebook Live infographic for more information on live video’s growth.

Internet Video is on the Rise

The prediction is that by 2020, up to 80% of all consumer internet traffic will be video, so it seems impossible that advertisers won’t continue to move away from television ads toward digital video.  

In fact, Youtube is the 3rd largest search engine after Google and Google Images.

Source: https://sparktoro.com/blog/less-than-half-of-google-searches-now-result-in-a-click/

Emarketer predicted that consumers will spend an average of 92 minutes a day watching video content in 2020. 

92 minutes.

Let that one sink in. 

Marketers should consider adding video for their 2020 social media strategy. Some ways of doing this are by running video ads on YouTube and Instagram, creating video content in-house, or partnering with an influencer for paid product placement or endorsement in their videos.

Chatbots Will Become A Normal Thing

We expect chatbots to continue growing in 2020—and they'll likely see become more “normal” in the eyes of consumers. In other words: the novelty will fade but we will see them become more widespread and usable. 

By 2020 we expect chatbots to be the first place someone goes to order a pizza, choose a mobile plan, or even book a hotel room. Chatbots enable your users to do all of this without the hassle of downloading a native app.

Data says chatbots will dominate too. According to a study out of LivePerson, only 19% of the 5,000 people surveyed had a negative perception of chatbots. Further, 33% had a positive view and 48% were indifferent so long as their problems were resolved.

Stay ahead of the curve and develop a chatbot for your brand. They’re relatively easy to develop and may make the difference between closing a quick sale or losing a customer to a service with an easy-to-use chatbot—especially for food delivery.

Need inspiration for your brand’s chatbot? Check out this infographic.

The Rise of The Social CEO

In an era of fake news, it’s important for CEOs and other top executives to be social. This boosts your company’s reputation, helps build trust with your users, and even makes your company more appealing to job applicants.

According to data from OkToPost, in 2016 only 40% of CEOs were active on social media. Of those users, 70% only used LinkedIn. However, we expect this number to grow as distrust in the media continues, making people want to hear news right from the source.

There are a number of ways that CEOs can have their voice heard. A few of the best ways are by posting to the company blog, writing on Medium, Tweeting from a personal account, or writing blog posts on LinkedIn.

Cheap 5G phones won't come to the masses until these things happen first

I am not the best at technology or knowing how things work sometimes.  I must be honest and say that a lot of the information I get it's from my 12-year-old daughter. I am always shocked when I think about how much the world as changed in the last 20 years.  When I went to school back then, we did not have cell phones or computers.  These new technologies were just starting in the market.  

It was in my early 20s that I got my first cell phone.  Today, I cannot imagine doing the work I do and all the tasks I need to accomplish without my laptop and my I-Phone.  It's almost like the world did not exist before.  I am grateful for the technology we have today and I don't think I can truly picture what it will do in the future.  

5G is something that is mentioned a lot in the news and I think it will change our world again.  According to this article, however, it will take several more years for most of us to be able to enjoy and comprehend this new technology.  Most of this is due to the production being so expensive.  I remember when we did not have unlimited data and it truly limited our potential.  Now since its unlimited there nothing we won't do on our phones.  My expectations are that this will happen with 5G technology.  I am very excited about the future and some of the things we will be able to do.  If you would have told me 20 years ago about how cell phones would change our lives, I would have never imagined.

By Jeannie M.  A.K.A Idreamof

https://www.cnet.com/news/cheap-5g-phones-wont-come-to-the-masses-until-these-things-happen-first/

Artificial Intelligence Marketing - Where does it lead?

Many people have heard the headline stories about how artificial intelligence is automating away jobs, reducing waste through improved forecast accuracy, and even predicting what a consumer will do next. Today, company's are looking at even more applications for AI including the age old question: "what will a consumer want tomorrow." The implication of this is that AI could be the engine that fuels future innovation for things like flavor variants in food, body styles of cars, or vacation destinations through optimized airplane routes. While this could be a huge benefit for company's competing for the next best product, this also could lead to a world where biased algorithms lead us into the future and have an eventual singular convergence point where everything and everyone is equalized.

The implications for this in digital marketing have yielded significant reward/advantage and company's are looking for more:

1. Customized messages
2. Automated marketing processes that save time and money
3. Reduced targeting errors
4. Increased touch points with high potential consumers
5. Improved conversion results

But what if every company employing digital marketing strategies had the same AI algorithms - does it lead us down a road of uniformity and eliminate the competitive advantage that used to be the brilliant digital marketer or premium ad agency? My personal opinion is that AI has many benefits but it cannot and will not be a predictor of future creative ideas. It can help spot growing trends before they appear or look at a trend that is bound to return, but to think AI can predict the next trend is saying human behavior follows a predictable path, when in reality so much of culture is informed by chance and random events. AI companies that claim they can help find the next creative idea are much further away than we think, and for now, company's will continue to hire creative agencies and brilliant marketers to build strategies the old fashion way.

Black Friday Marketing Frenzy

Black Friday used to be such a major event that peaked everyone's FOMO and caused mass chaos to ensure you got 'the deal'.  Then Cyber Monday Came.  Then Prime Day came.  Now there's pre-Black Friday deals.  What was once a great marketing scheme is leading to many customers being desensitized.  Yes, everyone wants a good deal, but as a customer looking for a big purchase, such as TV, when is the best time to by?  Will Black Friday give me the best price?  Memorial Day Sales?  Or possible the weekend of the Super Bowl?  I don't have the answer, but I do know that whenever I'm in the market for a big item now, I know if I wait less than a month, some holiday or sale will pop up so I can take advantage of some deal.

https://www.wired.com/story/early-black-friday-deals-2019/

Can AI Do My Homework?

Admittedly, I've missed two weeks of blogging this semester because it slipped my mind.  It's a weekly task that I knew had to be done, but with all other needed thoughts competing for neural space in my head, the blogs were forgotten.

I pay all bills online, using autopay, because I am well aware that I am not to be trusted to do routine things on time all the time.  This led me to wonder if it was possible to employ some kind of artificial intelligence mechanism to do my homework for me and write my regularly scheduled blogs.

After searching Google, the best I could find was a robot that could copy text mimicking your handwriting style.  This would still require me to write out the blog.  Far short of what I was looking for.  Thus, fellow EMBA students, feel free to use this as the seed idea for a future venture.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/why-do-homework-when-you-can-make-a-robot-do-it/

Blockchain for digital marketing

Blockchain is one of the future keywords and my understanding was it can mainly be used for specific financial services and contractural process.
However, the article explains an interesting view on how the blockchain can also be used in digital marketing world.

Some interesting ideas include;
1. Granting and share the data with stakeholders.
2. Provides authentication and transparency on marketing activity
3. keyword tracking
etc.

https://customerthink.com/how-blockchain-is-having-an-impact-on-digital-marketing/

TikTok Reaches 1.5MM (Threat to Youtube?)

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-reaches-15-billion-downloads-seeks-to-distance-itself-from-chinese/567545/

TikTok Reaches 1.5 Billion Downloads, Seeks to Distance Itself from Chinese Government Links

Big Tech and Antitrust

An article published today by Wired magazine highlights growing calls for tighter antitrust regulation of larger technology firms amongst the current field of Democratic presidential candidates.

The argument is that it is time to look beyond 20th century criteria for evaluating whether a given acquisition is an antitrust concern - tech behemoths with too much market power can harm consumers and suppliers even without directly ratcheting up prices. Moreover, the pendulum may be swinging too far, with dominant players able to exert too much power on their suppliers and partners, with little regulatory recourse.

For example, in The Everything Store, Brad Stone describes the early years of the Kindle e-reader and e-books at Amazon. While things started out cordially, with in-house staff at Amazon maintaining positive relationships with publishers to ensure Amazon customers had good access to a wide array of high quality publications, things began to sour when the tech company was able to use its dominant market position in the e-reader space to exact painful terms for e-books from its suppliers. Even though there was no direct negative effect on customers, one could argue there should have still been regulatory oversight in the face of this aggression, as the growing tech company was able to take advantage of its strong market power to exert disproportionate pressure on the publishing industry. Given the current ubiquity of AWS among both small and medium tech companies, one could argue that lack of competition in the space could be a concern there as well.

A similar argument could be made for Facebook, with its recent acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. These are invaluable applications to Facebook's users, and allow people around the world to keep in touch with friends and family through post-card style updates and top-notch border-free messaging. However, consumers hesitant to share their contact book with Facebook may be limited in terms of alternatives for connecting with groups of family and friends on WhatsApp. Millennial globe-trotters have few alternatives for sharing stories if they are unwilling to provide Instagram / Facebook with unrestricted microphone and photo access.

As consumers, we benefit tremendously from the wide array of free products and services available thanks to the major technology companies of our time. However, it may be beneficial to have just a bit more consumer protection in place.

https://www.wired.com/story/tech-antitrust-break-up-andrew-yang/

Big names (brands) on Shopify

In last week's class I was surprised to learn that many big firms live in Shopify. Some started small and became very successful (for example, All Birds), but others have been large for a while and decided to transition into Shopify for ease of use, maintenance and easy incorporation of new features.
This article has a good compendium of brands that use Shopify. Some of the biggest:

• Budweiser
• Sephora
• Tesla (!)
• L'Occitane
• Nestle
• The Economist

A Useful Guide to SEO #fb

As the term is coming to the end, a little flashback to the beginning :)

Doing the group project on SEO/SEM, I just found out this cool guide that might be useful! The author talks about linking, keywords, user experience. The guide itself pretty much embodies what it is saying!

Here's the link:
https://backlinko.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/backlinko-seo-this-year-guide.pdf

Good for the soul, bad for business?

Instagram is removing likes..or at least testing it in select regions- so how does this impact digital marketing? 

CEO Adam Mosseri has announced that Instagram, a social media application for sharing videos and photos, is going to begin hiding the 'likes' feature with some countries/regions already seeing differences. For the everyday user this may mean a bit more confidence and less anxiety on the popularity of posts but for businesses and influencers that rely on this as a measure of a captive/engaged audience it may mean less transparency and impact.

For one thing, users will still be able to 'like' posts thus showing the direct individual they are engaged and actually like the post and the publisher will be able to view who has liked the post. This creates a more authentic relationship between the two and can still capture engagement/captive audience but my question is how will businesses select influencers? Likes is one of the easiest methods to find applicable influencers and promote products to broader audiences and without it they will need to rely perhaps more opaque measures such as followers and just comments which appear to be more difficult to use.

On a brighter note however, with the pressure of likes removed I would imagine the authenticity of posts to re-emerge without the concern of how popular your message or image is- perhaps this will create an ecosystem that is real and thus businesses and individuals will be more keen to interact and follow individuals, products, recommendations, ideas, and advise in an honest way. Instead of consumers liking and following based on others, they will interact and follow what they truly enjoy and find valuable, and that may be what the marketplace really needs.

Shopify-ing the e-commerce journey

After learning about Shopify's newest email solution in Saturday's class, I researched to understand the significance and how this new functionality can be beneficial to a fledgling e-commerce startup.

In a nutshell, integrating email marketing as part of the e-commerce mix allows brands to directly correlate email open and engagement rates with purchasing decisions. Shopify's foray into email marketing illustrates the growth of direct-to-consumer brands and the increasing importance for brands to directly communicate with end consumers. As "old school" as email marketing perceives to be, it is still one of the foundational digital marketing tools that should not be easily dismissed.

Shopify's email marketing tool will be functional and include templates that pull product listings and brand assets directly from merchants' stores to ensure branding remains consistent from email to e-store. There will also be robust sales conversion metrics to help merchants adapt and finetune its content.

The future of digital marketing

Companies are now using artificial intelligence technologies in their digital marketing efforts.  Such technologies are implemented largely due to inaccuracies that marketers are facing in personalizing content to the users and many errors that result from such activities.  Artificial intelligence marketing will allow the marketers to leverage data collected on users and operate a learning machine that builds automated models that predict the next step of the customer and what other interests may be of interest to that particular user.

That said, I'm not exactly sure how that is different than what marketers are doing currently as there are apps and websites that do something very similar.  We receive emails or ads that are customized in such a way that they are based on our recent searches or purchases.  I wonder if marketers are creating their own models with the data to come up with the personalization.

Either way, marketers are using this technology to better utilize the data for better accuracy and it seems like this is where digital marketing is headed.  See link below:

https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Artificial-Intelligence-The-future-of-Digital-Marketing-608089

Amazon and Nike break up

After striking a deal to sell their products on Amazon in 2017, Nike is ending their relationship and has announced that they will be reshaping their sales strategy with more direct to consumer sales. 

Some say Nike’s move is part of a growing trend. Tim Armstrong, former CEO of AOL and ex-Google ad chief says Nike’s decision to stop selling merchandise through Amazon is just the “tip of the iceberg” of brands opting to go directly to consumers and that brands are often fearful that by partnering with Amazon they will lose control over how they’re represented on the site.

And this might be true. The 2017 Nike/Amazon deal was made under the understanding that Amazon would introduce stricter policing of counterfeits and unsanctioned sales. Amazon said it invested more than $400 million last year to police its website and blocked more than 3 billion suspected bad listings before they were published to the site. The trouble is, they seem to put most of the onus on the brands to report bad listings. And despite their efforts, complaints of fakes and gray market sellers have persisted. 

The loss of Nike is definitely blow to Amazon. Not only were they one of the biggest sellers on Amazon, but they were a big name executives could cite when trying to woo other big names. 

But will the loss of Nike signal a reckoning for Amazon in policing fakes and unauthorized resellers? I’m not so sure it’s in the everything store’s interest. As the Washington Post puts it, “The continued abundance of counterfeit goods on the site is the result of Amazon’s decisions to prioritize a broad selection of products and cheaper prices over the deployment of aggressive technologies and policies that could further stem the problem.” 

Google Manipulates Search Results More Than They Say

https://www.insider.com/google-manipulates-search-results-report-2019-11

We all know that Google manipulates its search results -- what is an algorithm supposed to do other than "optimize" activity, which is inherently manipulative? But the interesting thing about this week's latest probe is that allegedly, Google manipulates results more than they publically claim.

This is inconsistent with their culture of transparency, which was also in the hot seat this week. The discrepancy between what they say and what is "the truth" is the problem, not the fact that algorithms are used.  It's noble to eradicate spam; it's noble to bury "fake news"; it's not noble to lie about what the back-end practices actually are.

Google hasn't been forthright about how its search algorithms work in specificity, in an attempt to block "bad actors" from taking advantage of the system. Google does release guidelines to assist website owners, but that's about it.

Consumers are 35x more likely to open mobile messages than emails

Interesting article from Sinch, a marketing research company.

The report says that consumers are 35x more likely to open mobile messages than opening emails.

Due to too many email campaigns, nearly 1 out of 10 have over 1,000 unread emails. 4 out of 10 have at least 50 unread emails.
However, only 4% have 50 or more unread mobile messages.

Assuming that mobile messages are short and easier to read.


https://www.sinch.com/insights/downloads-and-reports/mobile-consumer-engagement-2020-2/?utm_expid=.NcLURFGiS42GD0wHJoCIqA.1&utm_referrer=

Google, Facebook and Amazon | The Tech Giants of the 21st Century

              

In this course we've had the great opportunity to dive into the histories of three of the biggest players in the tech space, all three of which are integral to the modern economy and to all things digital marketing.

It's been fascinating to me to learn about some of the deep philosophical differences, motivators and working styles across the founding teams of all three of these iconic companies. In John Batelle's The Search, it was striking to see how much attention the Google co-founders paid to quality throughout their platform, using creative approaches to effectively rank and index the web while working tirelessly to provide the best experience for their users. I was impressed by their attention to detail in insisting that ads on the site were un-intrusive, minimalist and still useful to users, and found myself in awe of the noble aspects of the company's mission to make information searchable and accessible to diverse users around the world. Despite the weighty responsibilities of developing such a rich and nuanced dataset, rife with sensitive information, I was left with the impression that Google was up to the task and its founders and leadership generally meant well in their creative and academic approaches to innovation.

In The Facebook Effect, I was impressed by the intense level of collaboration across Mark Zuckerberg and the founding team, including Dustin Moskovitz, Sean Parker, Matt Cohler and others. It was clear that Mark was a decisive leader, but I really liked how tight-knit this team was, and was impressed with the close relationships the young founder forged with industry titans such as Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreesen and others. The team worked incredibly hard, but they also seemed to build very strong buzz early on through this dynamic and passionate collaboration. It was interesting to hear about the philosophical goals of the project in making the world more open and transparent and in changing the balance of power so that people were better able to self-organize and share ideas directly. I did think there was a rebellious and disruptive element of the project that was made clear through the book, and the implications of that are still unraveling to this day, especially with considerations around personal data and the right to privacy. At the same time, it was refreshing to hear how much Zuckerberg pushed back against over-commercializing the company early on, and how focused he was on creating a lasting product serving the needs of his users.

In The Everything Store, I was surprised to see how much of a solitary endeavor the project was, especially in its early days. It was also clear from the book what a strong impact Bezos's experiences at D. E. Shaw were in his management style and in a broader sense his operating model. I was impressed with how much the early nurturing he had at D. E. Shaw was in motivating and supporting him to make the move, and at the same time was surprised to see how a calculating commitment to being data-driven has been key to Jeff's working style since the beginning. It was also surprising to see what a long haul its been, with Bezos at the helm building up the modern-day indispensable behemoth over a twenty five year span, through dot-com bubbles, recessions and more.

Although I am left with the impression that Amazon has the most commercial focus of the three major tech players, I found the ability of all three teams to avoid focusing on the short-term and instead drive relentlessly over the years to build organizations of lasting value incredibly inspiring. I look forward to seeing what comes next with all three.

Future of Banking: Will Google Or Amazon Be Your Future Bank?

I found this article very interesting especially after the announcement of google this week getting into banking.  Early next year, Google wants to start offering some type of checking account to its users.  However, to be honest, I don't think their main goal is to be the bank of their users but more about monetizing the information that they will have access too.  By providing the banking infrastructure to their users, they will be able to see where the money comes from all the way to where and how it spent.  Think about the power of this information on millions of customers.

What will the future of banking look like?  I have been in finance for 20 years and its a question I ask myself every day.  The article talks a lot about millennials and what their expectations will are around money management.  However, I think we need to think bigger.  The future is about the information on users and clients and using that to maximize experiences, spending and brand loyalty, etc.

 I work at Jpmorgan and we are trying to become a place that is a destination and experience for our clients.  We want to be known as a "tech firm" that does banking and google wants to be known as a "banking firm" that does tech.  As technology changes and evolves around us we will see who wins this race.  One thing I do agree with the article on, whoever you are not doing anything is not an option.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/future-of-banking-will-google-or-amazon-be-your-future-bank_b_8921888

KOL vs. KOC

Different from KOL (key opinion leader), KOC (key opinion customers) has fewer followers on social media. Although they do not have expertise in marketing, they “appear” to be more trustworthy than KOLs. Instagram has started a new law that influencers need to specify “sponsored content” on top if they receive financial returns from the brands. Despite this fact, content shared by influencers is less trustworthy. 

KOC, on the other hand, is the next target of marketers. Although they do not have millions of followers, influence in a close friend cycle of tens and hundreds can drive sales as well. Their opinions, if positive, being seen can bring a higher conversion rate than KOLs. 

However, are KOCs really more trustworthy than KOLs? 

An article about “Micro-influencer” :

https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/power-of-micro-influencers 

Disney+: A win or a loss for advertisers?

This week, Disney+ went live in the US after months of anticipation. Disney built up consumer demand through targeted digital campaigns on social media, banner placements on apps and websites (mobile and desktop) and through their traditional media platforms (ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel, etc). For $6.99 per month, subscribers can watch unlimited Disney content without advertisements. For this reason, I ask the question - is this a win or loss for advertisers?

On one end of the spectrum, Disney+ is building a subscription model similar to that of Netflix and HBO that is absent of ads. Hulu on the other end of the spectrum, also owned by Disney, has a lower monthly fee and is partially subsidized by targeted ads. These non-ad content providers are stealing share of viewing hours, replacing traditional cable viewing, featuring advertisements, with on demand ad free experiences. If advertisers can no longer reach captive viewers while watching shows and movies, are they losing?

I argue this is NOT a loss. As technology has improved, the population's attention span has diminished, reducing the effectiveness of TV advertisements in recent years. Replacing TV ads with targeted mobile, apps, or social media ads has increased the effectiveness and relevancy of ads. While viewers are watching shows, they are more likely than ever to shift their attention to their phone, tablet, or computer where advertisers are ready to feed them incredibly relevant adverts.

Additionally, there are several ways Disney + is actually creating more marketing opportunities. As Disney+ learns about their consumer base, they are able to leverage the learnings to sell their properties through licensing for co-bramded products- for example: cereal, ice cream, snacks, etc... Brands that chose to partner with Disney will have increased demand and awarness for their products.

As millions of viewers flock to sign up for Disney+ all over the world, more targeted digital marketing opportunities will emerge, not fewer. The process of bringing people online to Disney+ will accelerate the transition to a more digitally savvy world, which will open more opportunities.

Social Media Trends for 2020 and Beyond

• Social Media Trends for 2020 and Beyond (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• Ephemeral content such as Stories will continue to rise, so creating short, engaging content is key
• Brands should look to fast-growing, niche platforms like TikTok and Twitch
• According to a Cisco study, 82% of all online content will be video content by 2022

Social Media Marketing Strategy

A blog I borrowed from Shopify as I came across it during my research for our group project.  This is just about how you should get started when thinking about marketing through social media.  Thought this was interesting as we're having a guest speaker from Shopify so this may be a little preview of what we're about to hear in class.  This seems like a very comprehensive step-by-step in planning and something our group will definitely leverage since our company doesn't even have a product so we would need to plan very carefully (especially when figuring out the target audience).  Anyway, I thought I'd share with everyone since it seems to be very useful...

See link below:
https://www.shopify.com/blog/social-media-marketing-strategy

Is the Apple card sexist?

Over the weekend, DHH (https://twitter.com/dhh) posted on twitter about his and his wife's application to the Apple card and the significantly different credit limits even though they file joint tax returns, live in the same house, and she has a better FICO score. His tweets went viral - see them here  https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1192540900393705474?s=21 .
Apple and GS did a terrible job at appeasing him, or containing the issue. More and more people started to chime in and to share similar stories, even Steve Wozniak! Now Apple and GS are being investigated by the New York's Department of Financial Services (DFS).
Coverage of the story here:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50365609
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/is-the-apple-card-sexist/2019/11/11/0f70b2fa-048d-11ea-9118-25d6bd37dfb1_story.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/apple/ny-regulator-investigating-apple-card-possible-gender-bias-n1079581
https://nypost.com/2019/11/10/steve-wozniak-agrees-with-critics-who-say-apple-card-is-sexist/

Columbia University's very own TikTok club

TikTok's precipitous rise to popularity in North America is not a case of luck. TikTok is in the midst of licensing negotiations to launch its own subscription service, according to three people briefed on the matter, which would see TikTok go up against Spotify and others for consumer dollars.

Columbia University's first club devoted to TikTok is a testament to Bytedance's far-reaching ambition and ability to convince brillant youngsters to lean in. 

In Preparation for Next Saturday's Class....

I wanted to share this article from Retail Brew to help everyone prepare for our upcoming speaker in next Saturday's class. Shopify has been making a lot of headlines in the retail marketing community about their partnerships/breakups with Mailchimp and their new in-house email marketing tool.

This isn't the only big expansion move for the company. The article also references another article from Tech Crunch about creating retail hardware for small shops to leverage chip-enabled credit card purchases.

Spotify Taps Viacom for Digital Marketing Globally

https://digiday.com/marketing/spotify-viacom/

Spotify has decided to use a media giant, Viacom, to develop its content marketing. Content marketing is a significant lift for a company like Spotify, so it makes sense that Spotify is employing a media specialist like Viacom to execute on it.

Spotify's objective in utilizing Viacom for content marketing is to expand its user base.