How to Do Mobile Programmatic Right

As programmatic advertising moves into mobile, companies have a tremendous brand-building opportunity with consumers who are spending more and more time on their phones than on any other device.  However, as this article states, capitalizing on this opportunity in a way that builds positive equity towards brands is a difficult endeavor that requires companies to get three things right:

-  First, companies need to consider the timing of when their ads are shown.  Ads are only relevant to consumers when they are actively seeking something.

-  Second, companies need to invest in quality ads that consumers at the very least, can tolerate, and at the very best, enjoy watching.  With consumers constantly being bombarded by advertisements, this is crucial for companies to rise above ad-blockers.

-  Lastly, social media activity gives companies a trove of information on what consumers and their friends are interested in.  To the extent companies are able to capture this information, it provides valuable clues as to what products will be most compelling to consumers.

Clearly, while mobile programmatic is a tremendous opportunity, it is also extremely difficult to do well.  What it all boils down to is how well companies are able to collect and effectively use the enormous amount of data consumers provide on their shopping behaviors, tastes and interests.

Source: http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/mobile-programmatic-brand-builder-brand-buster/301343/

Twitter Launches Brand Hub

This article talks more about Twitter's new offering to advertisers via its Brand Hub platform.  Brand Hub will allow advertisers to see a trove of data on conversations about their brands on Twitter.  This means advertisers stand to gain valuable intelligence on their consumers and general consumer sentiments.  The article states, 

"Audience shows insights about people actively talking about the brand on Twitter, while Conversation shows how people are discussing the brand, such as how many impressions a brand received over time, how many tweets mentioned the brand/product and the top phrases mentioned in conjunction with the brand."

Is Brand Hub as valuable as it seems?  In my view, Brand Hub could be indispensable to advertisers whose core consumers are on Twitter.  On the other hand, Brand Hub is only worth as much as the amount of data that's available, and could easily be undermined if Twitter loses popularity in the fast-paced world of social media to"the next big thing".

Source: http://www.webpronews.com/twitter-brand-hub-aims-to-help-advertisers-understand-their-brands-conversation-2015-10/

Instagram Testing Innovative New Ad Formats

Instagram recently launched its "Shop Now" button, but is also testing more innovative shopping experiences.  Instagram is using Apple Pay and Apple's force touch screen feature to allow consumers to browse through multiple product offerings without ever leaving Instagram's main feed.  The new ads allow users to apply different pressures in their clicks in order to switch among multiple product offerings.  Instagram's visual social platform is the perfect medium for this type of ad.

These new ad formats make the shopping experience as seamless and simple as ever, which is likely to improve conversation rates, and therefore, present a valuable new option for retail advertisers.  With technology advancing so quickly, it's not hard to imagine a day when Instagram will recognize the products in its users' Instagram posts and give consumers the ability to easily emulate their friends.

Source; http://digiday.com/platforms/instagram-wants-make-shopping-ads-even-immediate-shop-now/

5 Tips to Boost Conversion through Email Marketing

A recent article in Adweek advises email marketers to:

1) Avoid offers that seem too good to be true - even if they are legitimate
2) Create specific landing pages that are relevant to what customers click on
3) Play up testimonials rather than explaining your product since customers are swayed more by social pressure
4) Use a 2-step opt-in process
5) Keep your designs simple and clear to capture the attention of easily distracted customers

We discussed most of these tactics during class.  Tip #3 is a bit surprising at first.  Intuition would suggest that providing relevant product information would be more effective than testimonials at selling your product.  However, one only needs to look at Facebook to see that this is true and that it works (Friend A and Friend B like X!).  Social pressure will create curiosity among customers and drive them to look up your company's products themselves.  In the same way, companies that use relevant public figures in email marketing to create the same type of social pressure will likely be much more effective at running email marketing campaigns.

Source: http://www.adweek.com/brandshare/5-signs-you-don-t-know-first-thing-about-optimizing-conversions-167698

Are more publishers becoming skeptical of ad tech?

As we've learned in class, companies who advertise using real-time bidding ad tech platforms have concerns about whether the dollars being spent on digital advertising are worthwhile and being seen by the right audiences.  There seems to be growing skepticism regarding ad tech from the other side as well.  Refinery29, Facebook, Vice Media and Buzzfeed are among a growing set of publishers who have their own concerns when it comes to ad tech.  Chief among their worries is that annoying and disruptive ads served by ad tech platforms are leaving a bad taste, or worse, turning consumers away from publishers' websites.  Thus, these publishers are opting to take back control by building their own ad tech platforms or cutting out middlemen and selling ads directly.  If this trend continues to grow, ad tech firms will be forced to address publishers' concerns by ensuring that only quality ads will be shown on publishers' sites.  Over time, this should force companies to create better ads that will actually get shown to consumers.  Better ads will ultimately be better for all parties involved - consumers and publishers will be happier, and advertisers will become more effective in their marketing efforts.

Source:  http://www.wsj.com/articles/publishers-that-say-no-to-automated-ad-sales-1443650792

Google to Address Ad Viewability

Google has announced that it will only charge advertisers for ads that are 100% viewable.  This comes on the heels of Apple releasing ad blocking software for iPhone that has surely resulted in advertisers fearing that digital marketing spend on display ads will be wasted if ads are blocked.  Even current data, which shows that 56% of display ads never had the chance to be shown, has caused worry among advertisers.  Ad blocking will only further discourage advertisers from spending money on display ads.  Obviously, this is bad news for Google since its bread and butter is in ads.  The company is very shrewd to take whatever steps it can to prevent advertisers from pulling back on display ad spend.  It will be very interesting to see whether ad blocking will impact digital advertising decisions and how this will impact Google's business.

Source: http://9to5google.com/2015/09/30/google-display-ads-viewable/

How Much of Your Audience is Fake?

When digital first emerged as marketing channels, they held huge promise to marketers looking to cheaply and efficiently show relevant ads to an audience of potential customers.  However, the effectiveness of digital advertising has been less than stellar. As this article states, 

" Digital’s return on investment was around 2 to 1, a $2 increase in revenue for every $1 of ad spending, compared with at least 6 to 1 for TV. The most startling finding: Only 20 percent of the campaign’s “ad impressions”—ads that appear on a computer or smartphone screen—were even seen by actual people."

Bots are a huge problem for advertisers and this means publishers have  a new challenge on their hands - to prove to advertisers that ads served on their sites will be seen by actual humans.  Facebook has recently claimed that it can do just that, and I expect other big publishers will follow suit.  As some publishers are able to distinguish themselves as more effective conduits to potential customers, they will be able to charge a premium for their inventory.  On the other hand, publishers who don't make efforts to address bots will quickly be cut out of marketing budgets.

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-click-fraud/

Google Cracks Down on Abusive Robocalling by SEO Firm

For the first time, Google is taking direct action against firms using robocalling to prey on small businesses.  Google filed a lawsuit against a SEO firm Local Lighthouse Corp. in CA accused of bombarding small businesses claiming an affiliation with Google in an attempt to sell services that will get small businesses webpages to "show up multiple times on the front page and get what's called 'Front Page Dominance'".  In the past, Google's response has been to refer customers to the National Do Not Call Registry in these types of situations, claiming perpetrators are hard to go after since they use untraceable numbers and fake company names.  What could this mean?  Although in this case Google was likely motivated to protect its own reputation, hopefully this is a clear signal that Google is willing to take legal action to stop abusive behaviors that will discourage similar frauds in the future.

Source:  http://searchengineland.com/google-files-suit-against-seo-firm-accused-of-robocalling-launches-complaint-center-for-users-230796

The Future of SEO: Apple vs. Google

Mobile and apps are increasingly important trends, and search engines are seizing on this to change SEO.  While search engines currently return only webpage results, they will soon begin returning app content as well.  Google is working to integrate its search capabilities with its Android operating system, meaning users will soon be able to search for both webpage and app content from Google search.  

Meanwhile, Apple recently announced it is entering the search space with its own search engine to be launched with iOS 9.  Apple's search algorithm will focus not just on which search results get clicked the most to determine search ranking, but on user engagement.  With mobile devices, Apple will be able to measure how long users engage with a piece of content.  

These changes in search mean better search products for consumers.  Search engines will be able to index content beyond just webpages and deliver even better results to consumers.  With engagement being a new data point for search rankings, quality content will be more important than ever.

Source:  http://venturebeat.com/2015/08/13/the-future-of-seo-apple-vs-google/

Widely Cited $21.8B Lost from Ad Blocking May be Inflated

Recently, several reputable news outlets including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have cited a figure from a study conducted by Pagefair that digital advertising publishers could lose $21.8B this year as the result of ad blockers.  However, an article published by Buzzfeed claims this number could be significantly inflated due to the following:

• Supply & Demand - The argument fails to take into account supply and demand dynamics.  If ad blocking results in fewer ads being served, the effect will be that advertisers will have the same budget to spend on less ad space.  Therefore, prices for ad space should increase and publishers will benefit from the increase in prices.

• Mobile Apps - We all know that mobile has been a growing trend, with consumers spending more time on their phones than their computers these days.  However, even if consumers are able to block ads on their iPhones in Safari, the effect is limited because most time spent on mobile is with apps.  Ad blockers can't block ads shown in apps.

• Advertisers will Find Other Outlets to Reach Consumers - There will be a "waterbed effect" - reduced reach in one area will result in a redistribution of ads and increased reach via other outlets.

Source:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/widely-cited-ad-blocking-study-finding-218-billion-loss-is-i#.ulVQd4x6d