'Net Features : wm-advertising

Click-to-Call from Mobile Display

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Performance marketing network Tradedoubler has partnered with mobile ad placement company Freespee and will use its technology platform and API to offer clickable phone numbers and analytics to its desktop and mobile display advertisers.

"For services with local offices, like insurance, education, finance, health, beauty, travel, telecom and other utilities, 70 percent of consumers want to talk to someone before opening their wallets," said Carl Holmquist, Freespee founder and CEO. "Especially when advertising on mobile phones, a call is the natural next step after seeing the ad -- and we make that call just one click away and totally trackable for conversion optimisation."

The rise in consumers mobile activity is obviously making click-to-call technology an important if not mandatory element in the digital advertising mix. Those networks and agencies that realize the immediacy benefit of the technology for users are signing on (as evidenced here by the TradeDoubler/Freespee partnership).

Google reports that mobile users are 6 percent to 8 percent more likely to click on ads that contain a phone number. And, even when mobile users click through to a mobile landing page instead of the phone number, Google's research found that 52 percent of those people go on to call the advertiser.

"The beauty of Freespee is we don't have to reinvent the wheel -- we can add clickable, trackable phone numbers to our desktop and mobile ad formats with just a couple of lines of code," said Rob Wilson, CEO of Tradedoubler, whose network includes 140,000 website publishers and 2,000 advertisers. "For a large segment of our advertisers this is incredibly valuable because these ads on average convert six times better than a traditional online or mobile display ad."

Yahoo Ad Units Place Sponsored Content in Redesigned News Stream

Michael Garrity — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:30:00 GMT

Earlier this week, Web media and technology company Yahoo announced that it was launching two brand new in-stream ad unit formats: one for desktops and mobile devices, and another standard billboard-type ad.

In a move that is similar to the Sponsored Stories ads that Facebook rolled out a while ago, Yahoo’s new “Stream Ads” are native ad types that will feature sponsored posts appearing in the content stream on the freshly redesigned Yahoo homepage; the ads will also show up in as news summaries in the updated Yahoo mobile application.

Of course, it’s not all about Yahoo finding a way to line its pockets (just mostly). The company also has its users, and their interests, in mind.

“The more our users spend time with Yahoo, the more relevant and personalized the content and advertising become,” said Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Mayer. “Stream Ads are the sponsored twin to our newsfeed articles and are every bit as personalized and engaging.”

Stream Ads will appear in the news feed and closely resemble the other articles, including having a headline, synopsis and thumbnail image. The only differences will be a slight shading, a “Sponsored” label at the bottom and an AdChoice icon in the upper right-hand corner.

Currently, these Stream Ads only include text and an image, and Yahoo hasn’t provided any pricing details yet.

The company also hasn’t offered pricing information on the new, more traditional billboard-style ads that are at the top of the Yahoo homepage, which Mayer said could be used by advertisers to display more rich and interactive content.

Rakuten MediaForge Reports Double-Digit Growth

Allison Howen — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:38:00 GMT

Engagement-based display advertising provider Rakuten MediaForge has seen double-digit growth for the second consecutive quarter since Rakuten acquired MediaForge in September 2012.

Rakuten offers a variety of consumer- and business-focused services, and with the company’s acquisition of MediaForge, its portfolio of services has extended to include display technology that helps advertisers to acquire new customers, increase revenue and achieve stronger return on ad spend (ROAS).

Since the acquisition, Rakuten MediaForge has not only grown its campaigns by 32 percent, but has also reported 79 percent growth in total impressions, 104 percent growth in total engagements and 69 percent growth in total clicks.

“As we recognize the close of the second full quarter since the acquisition, we also reflect on the success that our clients are able to realize,” said Tony Zito, CEO of Rakuten MediaForge. “Leading advertisers choose our retargeting and display technology to both engage customers and improve the performance of their online marketing campaigns. The strong results speak for themselves.”

Global Search Ad Trends You MUST Know

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:30:00 GMT

To be successful in digital advertising, you must always keep your virtual finger on the pulse of the industry. It’s essential to understand what is happening when it comes to click-through-rate, where spend is increasing/decreasing and the average cost-per-click.

Without that information, you just can’t make good decisions or plan effectively for paid search campaigns. Kenshoo's new report, which examines the performance of paid search marketing, provides exactly that.

Here are a few of the more interesting highlights:

Global CTR and Click Volume Spike: Q1 2013 global CTR reached 1.68% compared to 1.04% in Q1 2012, a dramatic 62% increase year-over-year (YoY) while Q1 2013 click volume increased 21% YoY. Meanwhile, impression volume declined 26% compared to Q1 2012.

Paid search ad spend increased globally but decreased in Europe: A 15% boost in global paid search ad spend was fueled by a 24% increase in U.S. search ad spend. Paid search ad spend decreased in Europe, however, with U.K. paid search advertisers spending 11% less YoY and search advertisers throughout the rest of continental Europe spending 4% less YoY.

Global average paid search CPC at five-quarter low: After reaching a peak value of $0.46 in Q3 2012, global CPC levels continued to decline in Q1, reaching a five-quarter low of $0.39. This average CPC falls just below the Q1 2012 value of $0.41. In the U.S. and U.K., average CPC values declined to $0.38 and $0.44 respectively, while continental Europe CPC remained flat at $0.36.

Mobile share of ad spend continues to trail relative share of clicks: In the U.S., mobile devices accounted for 19% of all paid search clicks while only accounting for 14% of total paid search ad spend. In the U.K., mobile devices accounted for 28% of paid search clicks while accounting for roughly 25% of total ad spend.

“After examining our Q1 data, what stands out most is the increase in paid search efficiency,” said Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer of Kenshoo. “With global ad spend, click volume and click-through-rates all growing, it’s clear advertisers are becoming even more sophisticated with their campaign targeting and optimization techniques. This is a very healthy sign for Kenshoo clients and bodes well for a strong 2013.”

Ad Keyword Distribution Visualized

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:15:00 GMT

Last week Bing announced the upcoming introduction of a feature which will enable Bing Ads users to visualize key performance indicators across thousands of keywords and better explore optimization opportunities.

Bing's Keyword Visualization Graph is really a "big picture" kind of tool to understand performance, but the value really comes with its ability to provide marketers with insights on their most high-impact keywords.

The Keyword Distribution Graph places keywords into a set of performance buckets which are represented as a bar in the screenshot below. The length of the bar equals the number of keywords falling in the bucket of a particular range.

Advertisers can choose from eight different metrics including Clicks (seen below), impressions, spend, average position, conversions and more. Users can even interact with the graph (by using the slider and side bracket features) to examine the data at different performance levels.

Salesforce Unveils Self-Serving Social Ad App

Allison Howen — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:55:00 GMT

A new self-serving social advertising application, dubbed Social.com, is now available through the Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

The app connects social ads with CRM and social data, which allows brands and agencies to power ad campaigns on Facebook and Twitter using real-time customer and social listening data. Moreover, the launch of Social.com adds new technology to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which already includes social listening app Salesforce Radian6 and publishing app Salesforce Buddy Media.

“Today Salesforce.com is doubling down on social ads,” said Michael Lazerow, CMO of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Salesforce.com. “Social ads cannot be disconnected from your business. By bringing together Social.com with the world’s #1 CRM, Salesforce CRM, and the world’s #1 social listening application, Radian6, we’ve made it possible for marketers to connect social advertising with their customer data and real-time trends to maximize return from their advertising dollars.”

With Social.com, brands can create, optimize and automate social ad campaigns. Here are some of the self-serving social ad app’s features:

Create social and mobile ad campaigns – Users can build, test and launch social ad campaigns that reach consumers on any device. Marketers can execute more effective campaigns by testing all of the available targeting, creative and placement combinations, to drive both localized and relevant ads. Additionally, they can leverage Facebook and Twitter data to identify the best content for advertising.

Optimize social ad campaigns – Users can track and analyze metrics over time with live campaign monitoring and receive immediate feedback on social ad performance based on particular goals.

Automate social ad campaigns – Users can adjust ad spend by defining rules to make real-time optimization decisions across all ads and campaigns.

It is important to note that Salesforce.com is building on the success of Social.com by delivering new innovations for targeting social ads to make campaigns more relevant and effective. For example, Social.com customers will be able to use Salesforce CRM to connect offline and online purchase data, customer loyalty data, as well as data from contests, sweepstakes, whitepaper downloads and other conversion pages directly to their social ad campaigns in real-time. Furthermore, connecting Social.com with social listening app Radian6 will allow marketers to tap into real-time conversations from more than 500 million sources, including the Twitter Firehose. That said, although Social.com is currently available to the public, its real-time customer data and listening is currently scheduled to be generally available in Summer '13.

What Internet Retailers Spend on Paid Search

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:31:00 GMT

Paid search is a significant driver of impressions for Internet retailers but acquiring users through the channel certainly does not come cheap.

Search engine intelligence provider AdGooroo released a thought-provoking infographic on the paid search retail universe which breaks down the $2.3 billion dollars spent on performance advertising (full year 2012 for AdWords combined with half-year 2012 for Yahoo! Bing) by retail category.

“Mass retailers” collectively spent a whopping $490 million and as a result received far and away the most impressions of any retail category according to AdGooroo which calculated that Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart, jcpenney and Macy’s racked up a whopping 13 billion impressions in total.

Adgooroo also took a closer look at the 2012 paid search spend for specific retail categories – a useful exercise in determining sector growth potential and current competitiveness. Besides the $490 million for mass retailers (approximately 21% of the total spend), six retail categories spent over $100 million including Apparel & Fashion ($271M), Consumer Electronics ($202M), Home Improvement ($155M), Stationary, Greeting Cards & Printing ($150M), Beauty & Cosmetics ($101M), and Shoes ($100M). Spend for Sporting Goods ($94M), Jewelry ($78M), and Flowers/Mail Order Gifts ($80M) also made a respectable showing to round out the list.

Social Annotations Now in Google Enhanced Campaigns

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:35:00 GMT

Google released enhanced campaigns back in February 2013 - ad campaigns which use context such as location, time of day, and device - and over 1.5 million campaigns have already officially been upgraded.

Two new features have made their way into the advertising ecosystem which should make the Google Adwords offering even more irresistible to Internet marketers.

Adwords advertisers running enhanced campaigns can now include social annotations. If you have a Google+ page with a significant number of followers and a linked website that matches the URL in a enhanced campaign search ad, you could start seeing the social annotations immediately. Companies including Red Bull are already using the feature as part of their digital strategy (see below).

Google didn't stop at adding some social elements into the advertising mix. Advertisers can now reach app users with their ads based on context (location, time of day, device). Couple that with being able to adjust bids based on demographics, interests and topics and you have a powerful mechanism to reach the right people at the right time with the right ad.

Recent Articles on Google at Website Magazine:

- Google Affiliate Network Retires
- Google Rolls Out Real-Time Widgets in Analytics
- Facebook Dominates Social Login Scene
- Google to Start Sharing Space
- Spam Web Hosting and Google Rankings

Sample Social Annoations from a Google Enhanced Campaign run by Red Bull:

Kenshoo and CityGrid Team Up for a Local Partnership

Allison Howen — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:15:00 GMT

A new partnership between two local marketing platforms aims to help brands better manage, monitor and optimize their local listings and ad campaigns.

Digital marketing provider Kenshoo has teamed up with local content network CityGrid in a move that will help marketers manage and optimize ads on the CityGrid ad network within the Kenshoo Local platform.

The partnership makes Kenshoo Local the first integrated local platform that is capable of directly managing CityGrid Places and reporting on CityGrid traffic alongside search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns. This means that marketers can leverage Kenshoo Local’s automated reporting suite to create and analyze CityGrid and SEM campaigns side-by-side. Moreover, the Kenshoo/CityGrid offering provides additional benefits for local marketers including ease of onboarding, bulk campaign management, enhanced reporting and optimization across all SEM and local listings in a single dashboard.

“SMBs and multi-location brands like major retailers want more phone calls and in-store traffic, and plugging Kenshoo Local into CityGrid’s hyper local and mobile traffic source enables our clients to achieve these goals and offers opportunities for more holistic optimization,” said Will Martin-Gill, general manager of Kenshoo Search. “This partnership plays to the key strengths of our companies: CityGrid’s leading local network and Kenshoo’s leading user experience for campaign creation, reporting, analysis and optimization.”

CRM for Sales: Tylr Mobile Connects the Inbox to Salesforce

Allison Howen — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:19:00 GMT

New technology from Tylr Mobile is helping connect salespeople’s inboxes with CRM data while on the go.

The technology, dubbed WorkinBox, is essentially an iOS app that connects to Salesforce. The mobile email solution allows salespeople to prioritize emails from customers and prospects, focus on important opportunities and access relevant customer information. Moreover, the technology allows users to turn messages into actionable tasks and update salesforce.com as they work. According to the Tylr Mobile blog, the first version of WorkinBox focuses on making sales professionals more productive and responsive to their customers.

“We help you focus on your priorities by organizing your inbox by account, opportunity or key contact,” the blog states. “We help you be responsive to your customers by giving you access to email templates, files and relevant CRM information. Create tasks from your email, remember what you commit to your customers and manage your activity list on the go. Spend your time selling, not doing data entry – WorkinBox helps you update your CRM as you work.”

It is also important to note that WorkinBox is built on a secure mobile work platform that is able to handle unique sales processes at different companies and is easy for IT to configure, deploy and manage. However, those interested in trying out WorkinBox won’t be able to download it in the app store yet, because the service is currently in beta and only being released in private deployments to pilot groups and companies leveraging the Salesforce platform. That said, those interested in trying WorkinBox, as well as have an iPhone and use Salesforce, can sign up to join the beta trial.

“The way we work on the go is broken – every mobile app is a silo, and email is the biggest silo of them all,” said Ryan Nichols, CEO & Co-Founder, Tylr Mobile. “Someone needs to bring all these silos together to help people get work done. That’s what we’re building here at Tylr Mobile.”

Target Twitter Ads with Keywords

Allison Howen — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:25:00 GMT

Twitter is stepping up its ad game with its latest launch of keyword targeting in timelines.

Keyword targeting allows advertisers on the micro-blogging social network to reach consumers based on the keywords in their recent tweets and the tweets that they have recently engaged with. According to Twitter’s blog, this feature is especially valuable for advertisers looking for signals of intent, because it lets them reach users at the right moment and in the right context.

“For example: let’s say a user tweets about enjoying the latest album from their favorite band, and it so happens that band is due to play a concert at a local venue,” the blog post states. “That venue could now run a geotargeted campaign using keywords for that band with a Tweet containing a link to buy the tickets. That way, the user who tweeted about the new album may soon see that Promoted Tweet in their timeline letting them know tickets are for sale in their area.”

It is important to note that this new feature won’t disrupt the user-experience on Twitter, because the social network isn’t showing ads more frequently in timelines and consumers still have the ability to dismiss Promoted Tweets that they don’t find relevant. Moreover, the Promoted Tweets that users do see should, overall, be more relevant to their topics of interest. In fact, Twitter claims that the results of its tests with a small group of advertisers show that consumers were more likely to engage with Promoted Tweets that used keyword targeting.

The feature is currently available in the full Twitter Ads UI and through the Ads API. Advertisers interested in setting up a campaign that uses target keyword simply need to enter the keywords that they want to target, choose whether they want to use phrase match or unordered keyword match, and then specify any other desired targeting options, such as location, device or gender.

Digital Ad Revenues Hit New High

Allison Howen — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:50:00 GMT

Digital advertising revenues hit a new high in 2012, reaching $36.6 billion according to the newly released IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report for the full-year of 2012.

That record-breaking number is a 15 percent increase over 2011’s full-year revenue number of $31.7 billion, which was also a record. The report reveals that mobile is continuing to gain momentum, because for the second year in a row this channel attained triple-digit growth year-over-year. In fact, mobile grew by 111 percent to 3.4 billion, which comes after 2011’s 149 percent year-over-year growth. In 2012, mobile accounted for 9 percent of total Internet ad revenue.

Other highlights show that digital video, which is a part of display-related advertising, also had a significant year-over-year increase of 29 percent in 2012 – bringing in $2.3 billion. Conversely, search revenues accounted for 46 percent of 2012’s total Internet ad revenue, up 14.5 percent and totaling $16.9 billion, while display-related ad revenues grew nearly 9 percent and totaled $12 billion.

“These record-breaking numbers represent a paradigm shift when it comes to marketers recognizing the role a multiplicity of screens plays in effectively reaching today’s consumers,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO, IAB. “Mobile, in particular, soared due to its ubiquity and intrinsic ability to serve as a powerful digital dashboard that travels with you from morning commute to nighttime video viewing and beyond. The significant increase in digital video also underscores the importance of the upcoming Digital Content NewFronts and the vitality that sight, sound and motion play for both consumers and advertisers in the digital era.”

Marketers Pay Top Dollar to Reach the Digital Elite

Allison Howen — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:10:00 GMT

Marketers are paying top dollars to reach an audience segment that has been dubbed the “Digital Elite” by a new report from marketing solutions provider Turn.

Turn’s Digital Audience Report, which highlights insights from the first quarter of 2013, calls the Digital Elite “the world’s most valuable audience” and claims that marketers are seeking out this audience because of their active online habits and spending behavior. In fact, the Digital Elite, which is only 2 percent of consumers on the ’Net, sees 24 times more ads than the average consumer – which puts them in such high demand that marketers are willing to pay an 85 percent higher eCPM (cost per thousand impressions) in order to reach them.

So what does a member of the Digital Elite look like? According to the report, these Web surfers are typically aged 21-34, live in cities and love foreign travel. They also average an annual income of more than $76,000, as well as love gadgets and upscale brands. Moreover, the Digital Elite can frequently be found at bars and concerts, and have diverse media tastes – consuming a variety of content ranging from public radio and Family Guy to Elle and GQ. The report also reveals that 85 percent of the Digital Elite is located in the U.S., and that the average eCPM of this group is $1.15, which is 85 percent higher than the average of $0.62 that is paid for other audiences.

Conversely, the report found that the audience group targeted least by marketers includes an inconsistent number of people who are retired or mothers of young children. This group typically makes less than $51,000 a year, are price-sensitive, save their money and are more likely to be devoted sports fans.

It is also important to note that the report shed some light on ad format trends, revealing that marketers are paying more for display, video and other rich media ads, and less for mobile and social ads. In fact, global average video eCPM grew from $9.41 in January to $9.99 in March, while display eCPM increased from $0.92 to $1.06 in Q1. On the other hand, mobile ads remain inexpensive, with mobile eCPM dropping from $1.31 in January to $0.72 in March. The report claims this is most likely because an ecosystem for anonymous tracking isn’t in place for mobile yet. Furthermore, social advertising remains both low-cost and efficient for brands, with the eCPM for Facebook ads dropping from $0.30 in January to $0.24 in March.

Run a Special on Foursquare, Gain Visibility

Allison Howen — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:35:00 GMT

If you are a merchant who uses Foursquare to connect with your customers, you should consider running a special tomorrow in order to receive additional visibility from the location-based social network.

Foursquare has dubbed April 16th “4sqDay” and encourages people to celebrate by getting together, throwing parties and checking-in to their favorite local restaurants, bars and stores.

According to a blog post from the social network, “Offering a special for 4sqDay is a great way to take part of the celebration and get new customers checking in and spreading the word about you.”

This is because Foursquare will automatically feature any business that offers a special in its search results. This can help businesses not only increase their visibility, but also their foot traffic.

In fact, the social network even provides participating businesses with a sign that they can print out and put in their windows to publicize their promotions. However, in addition to publicizing the promotion in-stores, businesses should also consider sharing their Foursquare promotion with their Facebook and Twitter followers in order to reach a larger audience.

Big List of Mobile Ad Networks

Allison Howen — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:05:00 GMT

Mobile advertising is big business. In fact, U.S. mobile local advertising revenues are expected to grow from $1.2 billion in 2012 to $9.1 billion in 2017 according to a recent forecast from BIA/Kelsey.

This rapid growth is likely due to the merchants trying to reach mobile customers in hopes of bringing them into their brick-and-mortar stores. Mobile advertising can also be used to send customers to digital properties or entice them to download apps. But where is a merchant to turn when they want to launch a mobile ad campaign?

While the first platform to come to mind is typically Google, there are many other ad networks that specialize specifically in mobile, and provide advertisers with a large audience, robust targeting options and diverse mobile ad formats.