'Net Features : marin software

Next Gen CPC Bidding for the Holidays

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:22:00 GMT

Digital ad management platform Marin Software has released several enhancements to its bid optimization capabilities that are worthy of note - particularly as enterprise-level advertisers are increasing their holiday-related ad spends.

Advertisers are now able to leverage numerous execution techniques including predictive analytics, KPI maximization subject to pre-defined constraints and adaptive learning methods. If you're familiar with the current crop of enterprise ad management platforms, it not hard to see how the product is leading the way towards the next generation of CPC bidding platforms. Initial results show that 77% of clients who have deployed the solution saw financial lift above and beyond that of the prior solution, with an average lift, measured by increase in clicks, conversions, revenue or profit, of 20% or more.

"Marin's next-generation bidding is a tremendous leap forward for digital advertisers," said Wister Walcott, co-founder and EVP of Products, Marin Software.

"Historically marketers have struggled to meet the conflicting business goals of maximizing volume while minimizing costs. Today, Marin has delivered a bold new solution for attaining these dual goals, while providing the marketer with complete control over the priorities. In the fast-paced and competitive battlefield for online revenues, this visibility and control gives marketers the critical edge they need to increase performance and profits consistently over time."

Facebook Ads a Sure Bet for the Holidays

Allison Howen — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:45:00 GMT

If your business has been contemplating launching a Facebook adverting campaign, this upcoming holiday season could be the perfect opportunity to do so.

This is because a recent study from digital ad management platform Marin Software reveals that many consumers turn to Facebook during their hunt for deals around Thanksgiving time. The “Online Marketer’s Guide for the Holidays” study gathered holiday trend data from Marin Software’s more than 1,800 advertisers, with the results showing that Thanksgiving weekend produces five of the top six shopping days of the year for online advertisers.

According to the study’s data, in 2011 online advertising revenues surged during the days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. In fact, Black Friday obtained the highest return for marketers who acquired 300 percent more revenue from paid search ads compared to 2010, followed by Cyber Monday which received a 260 percent increase. These increases indicate that more consumers are looking for holiday deals through online search, which also proves how important it is for retailers to coordinate their campaigns with the holiday season.

However, the study also shows that Facebook holiday shopping trends in 2011 were similar to the paid search statistics – with Facebook-originated ad revenues also increasing during the Thanksgiving weekend. This means that in addition to search, consumers are also turning to Facebook to find holiday deals. Additionally, it is important to note that one of the study's most surprising findings revealed that Cyber Monday actually returned a higher level of revenue than Black Friday for Facebook advertisers in 2011.

"The pressure is on for retailers heading into the holiday season. Based off of what we saw last year, the stretch between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday will be critical to retailers' success as shoppers become increasingly attuned to promotional events during the holidays," said Matt Lawson, vice president of marketing and partnerships at Marin Software. "Similarly, Facebook is an advertising channel that smart marketers should not ignore as our data shows the social site taking on search-like characteristics during the holiday season."

Link Product Inventory to Paid Search

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:59:00 GMT

As the holiday e-shopping season fast approaches, Internet retailers are becoming increasingly concerned about aligning inventory to paid search campaigns. We wouldn’t want to frustrate those potential or existing customers, right?

Digital ad management platform Marin Software announced a partnership with retail technology company Mercent to ensure that retailers are able to link their paid search campaigns to shifting seasonal inventory. The result of course is more efficient campaigns – which ultimately yields increased revenue, improved responsiveness and happier customers.

Marin's Dynamic Campaigns feature works by essentially automating the process of generating and managing CPC ad campaigns based on a feed of current product inventory data from the merchant. Mercent Retail then manages the data feeds within sales channels including eBay, Amazon, Google Shopping, affiliate networks, comparison shopping networks, etc.

"For retailers, aligning search marketing campaigns with large, ever-changing product sets is a daunting task, especially if done manually through Excel," said Matt Lawson, Vice President of Marketing and Partnerships at Marin Software. "Marin Software automates much of the process and by partnering with Mercent retailers are able to efficiently synchronize paid search with product inventory data feeds, leading to more dynamic, revenue generating campaigns."

Advertisers Focusing on Tablet Devices

Allison Howen — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 08:30:00 GMT

Tablets seem to be the new focus of paid search, at least according to a new report from digital ad management platform provider Marin Software.

The U.S. Online Advertising Quarterly Report reveals that the share of paid search spend on iPad and tablet devices increased 40 percent quarter over quarter. This is due to an increased adaption of the devices by consumers, as well as the result of favorable performance metrics of advertisements on tablet devices.

According to the report, Q2 saw the share of paid search clicks resulting from mobile devices in the U.S. increase from 14 to 18 percent – while smartphones accounted for 10 percent of paid search clicks, tablets accounted for 8 percent. Additionally, share of clicks on tablets grew 33 percent quarter over quarter.

The report also reveals that paid search ads on tablet devices continue to show positive performance levels, especially compared to ads on desktop and laptop computers. For example, the cost-per-click (CPC) for paid search ads running on tablets is 18 percent lower than that of ads running on traditional computers, while the click-through rate (CTR) for paid search ads on tablets is 42 percent higher than ads on traditional computers.

"Right now, advertisers are getting the best of both worlds on tablets. The combination of high user engagement and favorable ad performance characteristics is a win-win for marketers," says Matt Lawson, Vice President of Marketing and Partnerships at Marin Software. "To capitalize on the window of opportunity savvy advertisers will become more device conscious, implementing campaigns directly targeted at tablet users. Revenue acquisition management platforms like Marin Software will be key in facilitating advertisers' cross-device campaigns."

Paid Search for Brick & Mortar Advertising

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 12:30:00 GMT

Businesses with an offline presence (and yes, they still exist) may still be hesitant to advertise with paid search campaigns because the ability to measure performance and obtain ROI data as it relates to driving brick and mortar transactions has been lacking historically.

That will likely change in the future as new technologies emerge, but a few solutions already exist and deserve a closer look. RevTrax and Marin Software for example announced a partnership last week that will see advertisers and agency clients using the Marin paid search platform to connect their paid search promotions (and analytics) to transactions which occur at physical stores courtesy of the RevTrax' platform which offers printable coupons that feature a unique barcode or promo code that are redeemed in-store.

"Today's partnership with Marin Software opens the door for myriad national advertisers and agencies to unlock the cross-channel revenue-driving power of paid search while taking advantage of a joint set of tools to manage bid optimization, analyze store-by-store performance and tailor campaigns based on performance data," said Jonathan Treiber, co-founder and CEO, RevTrax.

Paid Search Ad Spending Up

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:49:00 GMT

Ad management platform Marin Software released findings from its Paid Search Quarterly Benchmarking Report (available here) which indicates a 20 percent year-over-year increase in paid search advertising spend.

Marin examined 800 large-scale advertisers from its Global Search Index and found not only that search spend increase, but click-through rates also rose (12 percent) compared to the same quarter last year. Overall cost-per-click remained the same.

Perhaps the most interesting bit of data was that on Google, advertisers saw a decline in impression volumes in the second quarter. Advertisers managed to increase click volumes on an annual basis however, suggesting that either search marketers are improving efficiency or Google modified its algorithm for matching ads to queries. It is likely a combination of both.

PPC Campaign Cloner From Marin Unveiled

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Paid search management provider Marin Software introduced a search engine "cloner" features. Marketers, advertisers, and agencies will be able to manually create duplicate search marketin campaigns aross multiple publishers, translating keyword lists, headlines, creatives, destination URLs, and bids from Google to Yahoo, Google to MSN and even Google to Google quickly.

"Marin customers spend $50,000 to millions monthly on paid search marketing, but many of these large search advertisers leave traffic on the table by not setting up concurrent campaigns on Yahoo, Google and MSN," said Christopher Lien, chief executive officer of Marin Software. "Cloner is a tangible example of how Marin is meeting the needs of sophisticated search marketers, helping them drive maximum ROI from their search campaigns. Cloner is also critical for Marin's agency clients that seek to rapidly build out new campaigns for their own clients."

The campaign cloner is available to Marin customers starting today.

WM Morning Wire: 10-15-08

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:57:00 GMT

Welcome to October 15th, 2008! Tonight's the last presidential debate so head on over to GlassBooth.org and see how your political views compare to the candiates. AND, today is also Blog Action Day, so if you've got the inclination - do the world a favor and blog about Poverty.

Below are a few press release that caught our attention this morning that you too might find interesting. We'll be covering some of these releases throughout the day, but if you have a news announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine community, please contact Website Magazine editors now.

SearchAdNetwork Wins DMA ECHO Award
Last night, SearchAdNetwork was presented with a 2008 DMA ECHO Award for Excellence in Search Marketing. This marks the second year in a row that SearchAdNetwork has received this honor, making the search engine marketing agency the only recipient thus far.

comScore Ranks Gigya as Largest Widget Company
Gigya Grows 43% in Five Months; More Than 174 Million Unique Widget Viewers Worldwide; Also Releases Internal Data Showing Average Reach of 25 Unique Users per Installed Widget

U.S. Publishing Giants Join Nokia Media Network
Nokia today announced that several leading U.S. publishers (Fox News, A&E Networks, History, and the Hollywood Reporter) have joined the Nokia Media Network, a premium advertising network that provides brands reach to millions of mobile consumers through advertising on blue-chip mobile publishers, operator partners and Nokia services, furthering Nokia's reputation of providing wide audience reach on high-quality publisher mobile sites.

.tel - a Developers' Paradise
Telnic Limited today launched resources and open source code for developers, enabling them to create new
applications and services on the innovative .tel platform launching in December this year.

eCommerce Platforms that Won't Break the Bank
B2C Partners (www.b2cpartners.com), a firm that helps online retailers with technology evaluation and vendor selection, today released a new list of eCommerce platforms that won't break the bank. Designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) looking for a new eCommerce technology, the list of more than 50 providers is based on B2C Partners' extensive industry experience helping retailers with technology evaluation and selection.

DotCom Your Event Books Fusepoint for PCI Compliant Hosting Solution
Fusepoint Managed Services, a leading provider of outsourced IT services and infrastructure, today announced it has been selected by DotCom Your Event Inc. to manage and host the company's customizable online event registration solutions across North America.

Paid Search: New Study Reveals Industry Growing Pains
Even as the global economy falters, spending on paid search advertising remains on a growth trajectory, expected to reach more than $26.8 billion by 2009. New data shows the largest search marketers would spend even more if they could, according to a recent study by JupiterResearch, a Forrester Research company, commissioned by Marin Software.

iPhone App Offers Social Geo-Location Through Ties with Facebook
Latest iPhone application released by AC ideas brings a geographical locator to your Facebook Friends List. MarcoPolo combines features of the iPhone with Google Maps and Facebook to help you locate your friends on your iPhone.

PESA Teams up with PhiConnect.com for Free eBay Management Tools for PowerSellers
PhiConnect.com is a new online service for eBay ManagementTools designed for Powersellers exclusively and PhiMart.com is a new online auction site with no listing fees