Are you reaching your audience on mobile?

Importance: [rating=3] Recommended link: IAB/IHT Mobile advertising report This month, the IAB and IHS Technology's published a survey that shows strong demand for global mobile advertising, as revenue almost doubled last year to 19.3 billion dollars and mobile growth accounts for a large proportion of this. In terms of the format of mobile advertising, display has shown the most growth followed by search and then messaging. According to Anna Bager, Vice President and General Manager, Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, IAB. 'as mobile ad campaigns become easier to plan, create, buy, and measure – in great part due to programmatic strategies – these operational efficiencies are spurring the growth of the mobile display ad market. And, this impressive rise in mobile advertising is unquestionably a worldwide phenomenon, with strong year-over-year upticks being seen in every corner of the globe.' Globally, there are differences…

It's more than increasing online adspend...

Digital. It’s not a channel box to tick, unless you work for a media buying company, it’s not TV 2.0 for your new ad creative or campaign. Though it appears for many, it still is. Whenever I hear traditional ad spenders, most typically big brand managers or marketers, talk about investing in, or doing digital, I pause and cringe, and listen in hope. More often than not what they’re saying is - “we’re spending ad money on more ads in digital channels.” Driven by an ill-informed “cost per click.,” or worse a crude “eye-ball” metric. It’s still just advertising, and worse, using creative so often intended for TV or for billboards - neither of which translate well for online will guarantee to deliver exceptionally poor results.

What are you amplifying and measuring?

This is what jumps to mind first, for me. It’s not that digital advertising is…

Are you missing out through not advertising in social media to ensure content success with Paid Social Amplification?

In our industry, good content is invaluable. But good content is also hard work. From planning to Quality Contro, content must be researched, nurtured, analyzed, and improved on an ongoing basis to make it as suitable as possible for your target audience. But if no one is finding your content, then regardless of the quality, it won't have an impact on your business's bottom line. This is where paid amplification comes into play. [Editor's note: The Smart Insights research report on Managing Digital Marketing in 2014 showed that many businesses are looking to increase their paid advertising on social media this year, so we hope these tips on how to do this are helpful] Pushing targeted eyeballs to quality content is something our team has had success…

How popular are meshing, stacking and responding to ads?

Millward Brown's major new ad response research project, AdReaction looks at the use, behaviour and perception to advertising of multiscreen users across 30 countries, including the UK.

What is the principle of AdReaction?

The core aim of the research is for brands to 'evaluate the multiscreen landscape by considering both the scale of screens (reach/opportunity to contact) as well as the receptivity of people to various marketing approaches, both within and across screens.'

Who was surveyed?

A survey was distributed via smartphone or tablet, to over 12,000 multi-screen users, aged 16 - 44 across 30 countries. A Multi-screen user is defined as 'people who own, or have access to, a TV and a smartphone and/or a tablet. They consume 7 hours of screen media buying during a 5 hour period.'

Key findings of the AdReaction Survey

35% of screen time involves using both the TV and a digital device. Of…

A briefing on the options for creating more relevant, personalised offers for online shoppers

A recent report from Razorfish showed that 76% of businesses don't use behavioural targeting (or at least 'C-level' execs who responded to the survey weren't aware of it it being used in their companies). In this article, Jose Carlos Cortizo explains what Behavioural Targeting is and introduces how it can be used within E-commerce sites. Many of these approaches can and should be used for other types of business, so you may want to serve different content or offers to returning visitors for example.  

What is behavioural targeting?

At its simplest, Behavioural Targeting is segmentation based on customer behaviours. One benefit of Behavioural Targeting is the ability to organize our customers based on variables related to their behaviours, such as the number of visits they have made to our online store, what products they have bought, what categories…

Are you ‘Always On’ and marketing in real-time?

A new Adobe sponsored Razorfish study, The State of Always-On Marketing surveyed 685 ‘C-suite executives’ to reveal that 76% of marketers do not make use of segmented or behavioural data in their marketing. “Razorfish defines Always-On Marketing as data-driven, content-led experiences, delivered across channels and devices in real time."

Some other key insight from the research

Less than 5% believe that they are managing experiences for an “always-on” consumer Only 38% believed they are capable of targeting prospects versus returning customers Just 13% feel that their companies are pushing segmented experiences and measuring the results "“Regardless of channel type, there is a huge difference between spending money on speaking to someone who is never going to buy your product or service versus investing in speaking to someone who is likely to convert or influence other converters”. Pete Stein, CEO of Razorfish, New York Sounds high? Probably, but is it…

From forecast to action: the adoption of real time bidding in Europe

Not so long ago, the adoption of Real-time bidding (RTB) by advertisers in Europe seemed to lag behind that in the United States. While advertisers across the Atlantic were enthusiastically starting to use the real-time media purchase model, Europeans seemed less enthusiastic. However, in just over a year, the European market saw the real-time bidding skyrocketing. The year 2014 is not the time to ponder about turning to RTB, it's the time to seize and take advantage of the advanced technology at hand. What should we expect  to come in 2014, then?

Accurate advertisement targeting – data more important than ever

Western European advertisers and publishers now recognize the importance of big data resources, but so do the key e-commerce players in Central and East Europe. In general, in-depth personalization of online activities is the most basic benefit derived from automated…

AdID to replace ad tracking through third-party cookies?

Importance: [rating=5] Potentially… Recommended link: USA Today Article: Google may ditch ‘cookies’ as online ad tracker This is an interesting one to watch for in 2014… USA Today has spoken to "a source at Google who says that the company is developing a technology called AdID which could replace the third-party cookie for Ad targeting and tracking across Ad networks such as Google Display Network / AdWords Remarketing. USA Today is the only original source for this disclosure. The source said: “The AdID would be transmitted to advertisers and ad networks that have agreed to basic guidelines, giving consumers more privacy and control over how they browse the Web”. Google apparently plans to consult with privacy and industry groups and it seems this leak to USA Today is the first part of this. The paper is short on technical…

How Programmatic Marketing will transform E-Commerce

E-commerce, which now accounts for 8% of all retail sales in the U.S., is already growing quickly. But that rapid growth is likely just the beginning. The rise of programmatic marketing promises to make selling and buying over the Internet easier and more efficient than ever. Let’s take a quick look at the future of e-commerce. By now you may have heard about Site Retargeting

What is Site Retargeting?

Site Retargeting, a marketing technique that targets users with display ads after they visit a site with the aim of bringing them back for a conversion. For example, if you look at a couch on the site of a furniture retailer, you might then browse to another site and see a display ad for the couch you just viewed. Site Retargeting has now evolved into Programmatic Site Retargeting (PSR). Whereas basic Site Retargeting targets primarily by the page a user…

This research report from Quantcast is particularly interesting, especially given their specialist expertise in the display advertising category.

The premiss of their report is essentially

People who are on a website have different needs to those searching for one, yet digital marketers look to optimise for clicks in similar ways. Search advertising is an understood CPC (cost per click) model, where buyers have an intent and are served advertising that they’re interested in. In short, if you’re happy with the CPC, it works. People on a website tend to want the information on the website, not look to click a banner and leave it, there is a reason or intention to click away at the earliest opportunity - regardless of whether it’s a display ad or link. Click conversion is better aligned to where there’s purchase intent and a desire to click. This is inevitably lower down the sales funnel. Click measurement is not a…