“Style automation” isn’t synonymous with sophisticated advertising
Perhaps the biggest impact that technology has made on the advertising space in the past five years is automation. Media planning and buying are no longer the laborious processes they once were, as advertisers large and small can use software to help them find their audiences online, buy ads and deliver messages to consumers in […]
Reality check: Facebook’s algorithm change isn’t a death blow to local businesses
Recently announced algorithm changes at Facebook have thrown many businesses and publishers into a tizzy. And understandably so. On January 11, Facebook confirmed that its news feed would begin deprioritizing their content in favor of posts that users’ friends and family share and comment on. “As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like […]
It’s still too early for local publishers to give up on display
To many internet users, the first kind of online ads that come to mind are display ads, the familiar units that have historically been placed at the top of page or running along the sides. Yet despite their ubiquity, many publishers are abandoning display ads altogether, instead opting for sponsored sections, branded content and new, alternate revenue […]
The 2018 local advertising opportunity lies in digital
Local ad spending is on the rise, according to the latest forecast from BIA/Kelsey. In 2018, the local ad market will hit $151.2 billion, a 5.2% increase from 2017. That incredible figure is both the largest annual increase in five years and approximately 70 percent of the total $214.94 billion that eMarketer expects will be spent on […]
The ways marketing vendors fail to deliver to SMBs and how to avoid them
The shift to digital media has created a bit of an obstacle for SMB advertisers. Rather than buy ads in newspapers, on TV or on radio stations, these businesses must now figure out how to get their ads visible to consumers across a mix of local and national websites and apps. As a result, SMBs […]
Agencies big and small working smarter in the pay for performance era
P&G’s Marc Pritchard kicked off a season’s worth of headlines with a speech at IAB’s annual leadership meeting in early 2017 when he “put his agencies on notice,” in a public demand for transparency from the entire digital advertising infrastructure. “The days of giving digital a pass are over,” he said. By now Mr. Pritchard’s […]
Will virtual assistants cause a seismic shift in seo strategy?
If you spent any time around the holidays camped out in front of a TV set, you likely saw commercials for virtual assistants. This new device segment is exploding, thanks in large part to the competition between Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home products. Of course, as products grow in popularity with consumers, they grow in […]
For local media to thrive, it must identify new customers and products in 2017
The widely-perceived story on local media is that it’s hurting, with organizations that once dominated local markets having ceded much of their ad revenue to digital companies such as Facebook and Google. But that’s an easy take on a more complicated story — one that actually provides ample opportunity for many local media players. In the […]
Digital publishers are feeling the revenue pressure, but help is on the way
Online publishing is a tricky industry, especially for legacy print publications that long relied on subscriptions and pages of ad revenue. Today, these publications are trying to determine how to maximize their revenue while continuing to publish high-quality content and deliver a positive user experience so that they maintain readership. While those core top-level goals […]
For SMBs, DIFM & DIWM are the best ways to spend on social
Social media has changed the way that brands and businesses communicate with consumers. Whereas marketers historically directed a conversation toward the consumers, social media has given consumers the ability to speak directly back to the brands, as well as to each other about brands. This has also created a democratized landscape, where every brand stands […]