Marketing Day: Becoming an analytical marketer, holiday shopping forecasts & more

Here’s our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web.

From Marketing Land:

• Why microsites aren’t always ideal for SEO
  Sep 1, 2017 by Janet Driscoll Miller
  Microsites have their uses, but columnist Janet Driscoll Miller argues that they can often create unnecessary headaches for search engine optimization professionals.
• Evaluating PPC talent, part 2: The test
  Sep 1, 2017 by Brett Middleton
  In part 2 of his series on evaluating PPC candidates, columnist Brett Middleton shares some tests you can administer to determine whether a potential hire is a good fit for your business.
• The 5-step approach to becoming an analytical marketer
  Sep 1, 2017 by Nandini Rathi
  Contributor Nandini Rathi examines how smart marketers are turning to analytics to bridge the gap between knowledge and execution.
• Capturing dark social activity can help brands avoid data commodification
  Sep 1, 2017 by Chuck Moran
  Don’t ignore the data on activity that happens outside of regular social channels. Contributor Chuck Moran explains how using dark social will set your data strategy apart from the competition’s.
• More than 1/3 of shoppers plan to start holiday shopping before Black Friday [report]
  Sep 1, 2017 by Amy Gesenhues
  According to CPC Strategy’s 2017 US Holiday Shopping forecasts, 72% of shoppers will be doing their holiday gift-buying on Amazon.
• Earth Networks CMO says martech delivers a lasting first impression within the prospect experience
  Sep 1, 2017 by Amy Gesenhues
  Anuj Agrawal, CMO for Earth Networks, will be a panelist for the “From Prospect to Reference Customer: Maximize Lifetime Value with Martech” session at MarTech Boston.
• Branch now offers its Deep Linked Email solution on a majority of ESPs
  Sep 1, 2017 by Barry Levine
  The company says it makes it easy to set up deep links to apps from links inside emails, which are mostly read on mobile devices.
• AdWords ad rotation settings to get trimmed: Optimize or don’t
  Sep 1, 2017 by Ginny Marvin
  The machine learning-powered ad rotation setting comes front and center.
• The game changer in retail personalization: Consumer identity management
  Sep 1, 2017 by Dave Dague
  Contributor Dave Dague explains how consumer identity management will help you deliver a personalized, relevant experience to customers and give you a leg up on the competition this holiday season and beyond.
• Throw a party with your advertising data
  Sep 1, 2017 by Adam Grow
  If you’re hosting a party, you’ve got to have the perfect guest list — and your data is the same way. Columnist Adam Grow walks you through how to use comprehensive first-, second- and third-party data to acquire the right customers.
• How media companies are creating episodic series for Instagram Stories
  Sep 1, 2017 by Tim Peterson
  Bustle, New Form Digital and WeBuyGold have produced original programs for Facebook’s other fledgling video service.
• Yelp introduces custom (local) audiences for national advertisers
  Sep 1, 2017 by Greg Sterling
  The company is making its local search data available to brands and enterprises for targeting via exchanges.
• Instagram starts putting Stories, but not Story ads, on its website
  Aug 31, 2017 by Tim Peterson
  With 250 million people checking out Stories in its app every day, Instagram is extending the product to its online audience that skews international.

Online Marketing News From Around The Web:

Analytics

• 5 Reasons Your Marketing Agency is Struggling to Measure Its Impact, Constant Contact Blogs
• Sortable’s Founder Christopher Reid On Analytics, Sortable

Business Issues

• Alphabet Wraps Up Reorganization With a New Company Called XXVI, Bloomberg
• Apple Siri division now reports to Craig Federighi not Eddy Cue, Business Insider
• Inside Amazon’s pitch to agencies, Digiday

Content Marketing

• Case Study: How an Unusual, Soft-Sell Sponsored Post Turned Readers Into Customers, Street Fight
• Creating Understandable Content, CopyPressed
• How to Ungate Content for Success, Content Marketing Institute

E-Commerce

• 6 Ways Brands and Retailers Can Leverage Reviews, Multichannel Merchant
• A retailer’s guide to the holiday season, Retail Dive
• Global Ecommerce Statistics and 10 International Growth Trends You Need, Shopify Plus

Email Marketing

• Lessons from an ecommerce email marketer, Practical Ecommerce
• Will email marketing exist in 5 years?, My Emma

General Internet Marketing

• An open letter to publishers on ads.txt: Adopt or be blocked, Digiday
• Marketing 101: What is CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)?, MarketingSherpa Blog
• The 10 Pillars of Successful Branding, Marketo

Internet Marketing Industry

• MobiBlue Unveils Free Custom Mobile App For Small Businesses, Markets Insider
• MRP’s New ABM Display Advertising Offering Gives Marketers Direct Reach into Target Accounts, PR Newswire
• STRIVR Expands C-Suite to Further Fuel Company’s Growth in the Enterprise, PR Web

MarTech

• The Future of AI and Chatbots: What Comes Next?, Social Media Explorer

Mobile/Local Marketing

• Latest Estimates for US Proximity Mobile Payments, eMarketer
• The Most-Deleted and Least-Used Mobile Apps, MarketingProfs

Social Media

• Facebook Advertising Benchmarks: CTR, CPM & CPC in 2Q17, MarketingProfs
• Forrester: Teens suggest Instagram, Snapchat have room for more ads, Mobile Marketer
• What To Do When Facebook Engagement Declines [Research], Heidi Cohen

Video

• Why Audience Development is Becoming a Cornerstone Strategy for Digital Video Publishers, Tubular Insights
• YouTube’s New Design Overhaul Signals Changes for Small Business Users Too, Small Biz Trends

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.