Nearly two years ago, my co-author Mike Schneider and I published a book called Location-Based Marketing for Dummies. At the time, location-based marketing was just getting off the ground in large part thanks to the launch of two services: foursquare and Gowalla. Over the last couple of years, many of the original location-based services have been acquired or have gone out of business. But foursquare still stands in spite of the fact that it still hasn't caught fire like many of us hoped it would. While foursquare has stalled out around 25 million users, it is still a force to be reckone [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Channel: Local | Check-In Services | Facebook: Mobile | Foursquare | Google: Mobile | How To | Mobile Marketing Column | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Twitter: Mobile | Yelp

When you follow someone on Twitter, you see everything they post. When you follow someone on Facebook, it decides what you see. Which is right? I'd say both, and it comes down to the live TV versus DVR personalities of each service. Should Facebook Show Everything? The issue of Facebook deciding what to show people in their Facebook news feed came up this week when Nick Bilton of the New York Times wrote about how over the past year, the engagement on his posts had dropped, despite his having gained a huge increase in Facebook followers. That echoed concerns from Star Trek alum and soc [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Facebook | Google: Google+ | Internet Marketing Industry: Acquisitions | Search Marketing Column | Social Media Marketing | Twitter

As you continue to send marketing emails over time, your list continues to grow, and your engagement metrics continue to drop. Over time, the number of long-time subscribers on your list increases. These subscribers have a higher chance of becoming uninterested in your email messages, which they express by failing to open or click. This growing population of unengaged subscribers causes the overall metrics of your emails to drop. So What? ISPs are monitoring email engagement metrics and making decisions based on this. If your subscribers are less engaged than a competitor's, then your email [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Email Marketing | Email Marketing | Email Marketing Column | Statistics: Email Marketing

"Data by itself is useless... It's only useful if it's applied." -- Todd Park, White House CTO Some of my best ideas, data, and information come from very unexpected sources. Sure, I can do a simple search on a topic, or look at Google Trends to see what people are interested in right now. But how do I help create something that really stands apart from all the other information available on the Internet? How do I add real value? I am always looking for new ways to accomplish this. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUqY5ySylXg[/youtube] I’ve found open data, corporate and gove [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Content Marketing | Content Marketing Column

One of the biggest buzz-phrases of the past year or so has undoubtedly been Content Marketing. It's the perfect piece of jargon: it's rather vague, could have lots of meanings and is very hard to pin down. It's also, as an idea, really not that new at all -- after all, soap operas were so named because they had soap companies as sponsors and producers. But, all that notwithstanding, there is a very good reason that the idea of content marketing has gained such traction recently, and that it gives brands a story to tell, and consumers something to share. Most posts about content marketing [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Social Media Marketing Column

One of the most common questions that marketers face in buying display advertising is whether to contact a publisher or ad network directly to purchase inventory (called a Direct Buy), or through indirect channels using real-time bidding (RTB) systems. To those with experience in the RTB realm, it's well understood by now that there is an element of unpredictability and fluctuation in the availability and consistency of volume from specific publishers or sources of ad inventory. This can often lead to frustration, especially when trying to optimize and automate your campaigns. To appreci [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Display Advertising Column | Retargeting & Remarketing

The week in marketing was a lot like gazing into a crystal ball as we were reminded about new advertising units and platforms. This is ... Marketing Biz. Few Marketers Aware of IAB's Rising Stars Units There's a big gap in awareness of the IAB's Rising Stars units between marketers and agencies, finds Undertone [download page] in a recently-released study. Only 31% of marketers surveyed said they had heard of the IAB's Rising Stars, which promise to "drive brand equity at scale," according to the IAB, and which the IAB has found [pdf] to outperform standard units in several brand metrics. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Marketing Biz

I was recently asked by an industry colleague about resources they should be making available to their affiliate partners and what affiliates want and need to be more successful. My colleague had seen channel partner and reseller programs with robust portals that included product 1-pagers, sell-sheets, etc., that was made available to approved partners. But, are affiliates looking for the same types of resources when they join an affiliate program? Yes, and here’s why. For affiliates, once they’re approved for a program, there’s a lot of information they need to curate in order to set [...]

Related Topics: Affiliate Marketing | Affiliate Marketing Column | Channel: Content Marketing

Thanks to smartphones and tablets, email marketing has fundamentally changed. Best practices surrounding design and when to send are seeing some of the first major shifts since webmail clients were the dominant email platform. The good news for marketers is that people consume more email now. The bad news is that without the right analytics, most marketers are in real danger of being left behind. Top 100 Retailers’ Email Opens By Platform Return Path looked at the mobile email patterns of the top 100 Internet retailers in the last quarter of 2012 and found mobile, for the first time [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Email Marketing | Marketing Metrics

I recently began teaching a class in mobile content marketing for MarketingProfs University, taking over for the user experience expert and content strategy pioneer Karen McGrane.  At the time, her book, Content Strategy for Mobile, had not yet been released, so I relied on other resources when putting together material for the class. First I gathered what I knew about adaptive content from her online writings and presentations. Then I added some information gleaned from my own experience with content marketing to mobile users. My goal was to present a well-rounded overview of solutions t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Mobile Marketing Column | Search Marketing

Finding offline customers online is one of the Holy Grails of online marketing, and that's what Facebook’s “Custom Audiences” advertising product is designed to do. As Facebook puts it, “Custom audiences let marketers find their offline audiences among Facebook users.” The feature allows you to match phone numbers, email address, or user IDs gathered offline to actual Facebook users. That contact information might come from customer loyalty programs, applications on Facebook, prospective customers or elsewhere. Any contact list that you have is usable. Custom Audiences is the s [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook Marketing Column | Facebook: Advertising | Facebook: Marketing

Mo Analytics, Mo Problems -- other than a terrible use of the great Notorious B.I.G. song, this phrase accurately reflects how marketers feel about their analytics. If marketers aren’t versed in the finer details of the different metrics, they can easily draw the wrong conclusions with their on-page optimization and reporting. 1. Thinking Greater Time On Page Equates To A More Engaged Customer Average time on a page is a core metric to assess your page performance in many analytics platforms. However, marketers often incorrectly assume that it’s a good measure for customer engagement [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics

[caption id="attachment_34163" align="alignright" width="175"] Image courtesy of DepositPhotos[/caption] Remember that time long, long ago (in a land far away) when the term “web analytics” hadn’t even been coined? Fast-forward to 2013: web analytics data is the tip of the iceberg, “big data” is readily available, and many new tools on the market do the work of collecting data, storing it, manipulating it and reporting on it. No doubt about it, Data-Land is a much sweeter place than No-Data-Land, and as marketers, we’re lucky to have arrived here. Data provides insights that [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics | Facebook: Insights | Google: Analytics

She wasn't a marketer. She didn't optimize that infamous post on Facebook, or time it based on social media studies. Heck, she didn't even spell all its words right. She just knew Elton would die if she didn't get the word out, and that was enough. Late last month, a Jackson, TN, woman who runs a Facebook account devoted to finding homes for animals at the local shelter posted a new update. The story of the "gay dog" quickly spread, from Facebook to local media to Gawker to CNN to as far away as international news sites. "No one expected this one story to spread so far and wide, fr [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Social Media Marketing | Social Media Marketing Column

Data is so often discussed and so very misunderstood! Data is nothing more than values of qualitative or quantitative variables. It turns out that the term [Data] is as generic as the term [Food]. There are all kinds of food, food groups, and food ingredient combinations. You see, data is the lowest level of abstraction. On its own, Data carries no real meaning. Data viewed in context then produces information. Information tested and interpreted then results in knowledge. Experimental Data In online advertising, there is a potential treasure trove of audience data. The lowest level of kno [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising Column

This week in marketing was short on drama and long on the future. We saw innovative search applications, new ad targeting capabilities and identity advances. This is ... Marketing Biz. Elasticsearch Closes $24M Series B Round and Exceeds Two Million Downloads Milestone Elasticsearch is on a mission to organize data and make it easily accessible. We deliver the world’s the most advanced open source search and analytics engine available and make real-time data exploration available to anyone. I admit, I didn't know that much about Elasticsearch. I'd heard of them and understood their [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Marketing Biz

Those of us who have been in the affiliate space for a while know that the industry is predicted to grow to $4.5 billion by 2016. Meanwhile, did you know that there continues to be a steady rise in the amount of active bloggers? According to Nielsen data, there are 6.7 million people publishing blogs on blogging websites and another 12 million that are writing blogs using social networks. Given the rise of bloggers and the anticipated growth of the affiliate industry, it stands to reason that more bloggers would get on board. However, it’s not that simple. Monetization Doesn't Mean Givin [...]

Related Topics: Affiliate Marketing | Affiliate Marketing Column | Channel: Content Marketing

There are few things that instill more fear into social media marketers than being required to drive organic traffic to a site, campaign, or even a Facebook tab via Facebook. Facebook’s strong suit has never been click-throughs. As a result, social media marketers have done everything in their power to boost the presence of links. Shorten the link – done! Post photos and include the link in the status/caption – done! Use a call-to-action in caps, e.g., CLICK HERE – done! Doing one, two or all three has not yielded the sort of click-throughs that we see organically on Pinterest or [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook | Facebook Marketing Column | Facebook: Pages

[caption id="attachment_34076" align="alignright" width="300"] Image via Shutterstock[/caption] The Valentine’s holiday had me wearing the customary rose-tinted glasses and thoroughly enjoying it, from the candy to the life adventures (our first daughter was born the in wee hours of the 14th). [Editor's note: Congrats, Chris!] It was a reminder, too, that email design is often discussed only in the context of its big brother (Web design) or as an enabler of the great marketing panacea (optimization). We spend a lot of time talking only about challenges in email design, but we can do be [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Email Marketing | Email Marketing | Email Marketing Column

Do you have what you need to "do" content? If you don’t, you’re hardly alone. We’re in the throes of conducting interviews with dozens of marketers at (mostly) Fortune 500 enterprises about how they are organizing, budgeting and resourcing for content marketing. Ironically, while technology has democratized the creation, production and dissemination of content in digital channels, few (if any) of these senior marketers feel they’re properly equipped with the most fundamental tools of the trade: content management systems (CMS) and digital asset management (DAM). [caption id="a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Content Marketing | Content Marketing Column