Category: Branding
-
AI Writing: Muted Tones, Lack of Persuasiveness
B2B sellers using AI for content need to know this: A study by Originality.AI shows that large language models (LLM) – i.e. generative AI models – tend to “move sentiment scores closer to the neutral part of the scale.” What’s that mean? AI tends to mute tones and feelings. Sentimental…
-
The Powerful Benefits of Performing Content Audits
For brands publishing content regularly, it’s easy for old outdated posts to pile up over time. Periodically auditing and refreshing that content takes effort but delivers incredible value. Let’s look at some of the biggest benefits of making content audits a regular habit. Improved Visitor Engagement Stale, irrelevant content is…
-
Improving Engagement on LinkedIn | How Often Should I Post to LinkedIn?
One of the keys to getting engagement is to increase activity and distribution. LinkedIn provides broader distribution to posts that get early engagement when first posted. One way to do that is to encourage friends and co-workers to comment and engage. One friend I have has fostered a small network…
-
Why Don’t Marketers Target People with Money to Spend?
You would think that marketers would want to target the people with disposable income that can most easily afford your products. Instead of constantly targeted the people in society that hold more than 60% of all wealth, there remains an obsession with going after the youngest group of consumers. That…
-
Marketer Study: Will COVID-19 Change Everything? Umm, No.
You can’t go online without bumping into an article about how the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has changed everything and how it’s all changed forever. When it comes to marketing, however, just 13% of marketers surveyed think COVID-19 has permanently changed branding, according to a study by Bynder. 57% agree that…
-
Advertising During Uncertain Times: 11 Research Projects Tell the Same Story
If you’re looking for hard data on what’s happened to brands that increased or decreased marketing during and after a crisis or recession, I’ve compiled the results of 11 studies into this article. Every single one shows the same thing: the companies that stayed the course or increased their marketing…
-
Amid a Crisis, There Is Opportunity – If You Act Now
Consumer research and strategy company Magid works with brands and media companies and has been tracking media consumption and consumer attitudes for decades. Their April research shows significant opportunities for brands and publishers: 69% of consumers say they are trying new brands right now. This represents an incredible opportunity for…
-
Take Control of Your Brand Conversation or Someone Else Will
Not surprisingly, when you don’t control the conversation, it happens without you. Brands that stop advertising and sending positive messages are seeing huge drops in brand sentiment because they only thing people hear about you is nothing or negative. Those that continued to market saw a drop (people are thinking…
-
Advertising During Crisis Times: What You Do Now Will Impact Your Business Long-Term
You may not be thinking about advertising right now, but it may be smart to give it some thought. What you do today, can impact your business for the long-term
-
A Guide to Building Trust in Your Brand
While it can take a great deal of time to build trust in your brand, you could lose it almost overnight by making one small or large mistake. If you want people to buy from your business and recommend you to their friends, you must create an organization that is…
-
Changing Channels: Direct to Consumer Brands Are Moving Digital Dollars Back to Traditional Advertising
Many D2C brands are moving digital dollars back to traditional marketing channels. Rising costs of digital mediums Need to build brand awareness, trust, and credibility They are finding out that the direct response type campaigns that can work on search and social media channels will only take you so far. …
-
“Belief-Driven Buyers” Are Playing a Bigger Role in Brand Trust
Why do customers trust brands? The top reasons are all about product or service quality, according to the latest edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer. It delivers good quality products or services The brand gets good ratings and reviews It charges a fair price It has always treated me and…
-
Does your B2B website attract buyers? Apparently not
How effective is your website for building awareness and consideration? Most people would say it’s pretty good. In fact, the majority of B2B marketers say it is their most effective tool for the early stages of the buying funnel. In a report by Forrester, most B2B marketers said their business…
-
Despite What You Hear, TV is still the Dominant Medium
Despite all the talk about cord cutting, streaming, social media, and digital marketing, it’s easy to forget that TV remains the dominant medium. Here are four facts that demonstrate the continued power of television as the dominant medium. People spend more time with TV than computers, smartphone, and tablets combined……
-
Restaurants Are Spending Significantly More on Digital Ads
A new study shows that independent restaurants are dramatically increasing their spending on digital advertising. Within the last year, 68 percent of those surveyed report they are spending more on digital ads than ever before to attract customers. The restaurant business has never been easy. 17 percent of new restaurants…
-
Study: Half the Business Listing Online Contain Inaccurate Information
It seems so simple. How hard is it to get your name, address, phone number, and website URL right online? Apparently, it’s not so easy. A new study by Uberall and reported in Search Engine Journal analyzed 73,000 online business location listings in the Boston metro area. They found nearly…
-
Advertisers have a problem, and it’s worse than they thought.
Quick Read: Cord Cutting by Younger Consumers Making It Harder for Advertisers to Drive Conversation and Engagement with Their Brands, Especially in Tech, Telecom, Automotive SOURCE: Engagement Labs Advertisers have a problem, and it’s worse than they thought. The decline of ad-supported television is driving down audience engagement with brands.…
-
Brands, Agencies say Lack of ROI Proof & Ad Fraud are Biggest Threats to Digital Budgets
Digital advertising was supposed to give us more transparency. Better insight with a slew of metrics on clicks and conversions. The ability to draw a straight line from campaign performance to ROI. A way to stop wasting advertising dollars through micro-targeting and geo-targeting. Report after report show the incredible waste in…
-
AI is changing the way we interact with brands
New advancements in AI-based search, including voice search, are fundamentally changing the way people interact with brands. Research from Yext Inc and Vanson Bourne shows marketers are struggling to evolve quickly enough for this new reality: only 8% of marketers believe their organization’s brand management strategy is completely effective to…
-
The Number One Benefit of Post-Click Optimization
As simple as it may seem, a successful post-click optimization strategy will turn a more significant percentage of your company’s website traffic into profit by effectively engaging your potential customers after they’ve clicked on your sponsored post or advertisement, according to digital marketing firm fishbat. Here’s what else they had…
-
How Much of the Internet is Fake?
Seriously. If you haven’t read Max Reed’s article “How Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually” yet, stop what you’re doing and do it right now. Here are just a few of the gems Reed lays out: How much of the internet is fake?…
-
Online Brand Search Spikes Within Seconds of TV Ads Airing
Advertise on TV and people will search for you online… almost instantly. As many as 90% of TV viewers have a digital device either in their hands or within reach while watching. “Forget the remote,” said Lisa Gevelber, VP Global Marketing at Google. “Smartphones are becoming the essential TV-watching companion.”…
-
The Nightmare Scenario for Salespeople
Imagine this scenario: You’re a salesperson and you walk into a business for the first time to make a sale. You’re shown into the office of the big boss. Just as you start to launch into your pitch, she interrupts you and says: “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know your…
-
In-House Ad Agencies Are Growing Dramatically
The number of companies that have started in-house advertising agencies – rather than use an outside ad firm for everything – has grown dramatically in the past five years. The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) released a survey that reported 78% of marketers are using some form of an in-house…
-
The Risk-Reward for Brands Taking a Public Stand on Social or Political Issues
When Nike chose Colin Kaepernick to be part of its marketing efforts, they took a risk. It was highly unpopular with a significant segment of the U.S. population, but not so much with Nike’s target consumers. In fact, Thomson Reuters reports that Nike has sold 61% more stuff since the…
-
Five of the Biggest Cause Marketing Fails
Cause Marketing has been a buzzword (or is it a buzz-phrase?) for years in advertising circles. Tie your brand or product to a popular cause and hope that some of the good will rubs off. It sounds good, but it doesn’t always work out the way you want. Even some…
-
Direct correlation between TV ads and auto website traffic: Ignore it at your own peril
If you want to increase the traffic to your auto dealer website, increase your TV ad spending. Cut back on TV advertising at your own peril. An in-depth investigation from the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) reveals that 76% of auto brands saw a direct correlation – good or bad –…
-
The modern marketer: Brand building vs. performance marketing
As the landscape has changed, along with fundamentally, marketers need to prepare for a dovetailing of the two. Brands are looking for growth and differentiation, but that cannot be done with investments in either brand or performance. In fact, most best practices now suggest that the smartest media approaches…
-
Social media usage is dropping
Edison Research knows a thing or two about research. These are the same folks that do exit polling for national elections (as well as tabulate the national votes) for ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN. With a staff of 19,000 interviews, they conduct telephone, internet, and in-person interviews. Here is what…
-
Six Website-Building Tips for Beginners — Discover
Building your business or professional website? Make these six tweaks. Add a contact page If you’re building a website for a business, consulting gigs, or professional work, offer a method for people to contact you. Take a peek at our resource on evergreen page content — which discusses contact pages — then follow these…
-
Emotional Brands and Neuroscience Marketing
Some of the most successful marketing campaign motivate with emotion and not facts. That’s why companies like Facebook, ESPN, Nielsen, and ad agencies have divisions that explore the neuroscience involved in advertising. By examining the hidden signals of emotional reactions, marketers can better focus campaigns to take advantage of the…
-
Responding to Reviews Can Increase Your Conversion Rates
Location 3, a digital marketing agency, reviewed 16 months of AdWords campaign data, 93 million impressions, 32 months of historical user reviews on Google, 72,000+ reviews for more than 7,000 businesses. The research showed a direct correlation between better reviews and ratings and improved performance. As stars increased, so did…
-
Strike Three for YouTube? Caught in yet Another Ad Scandal
More bad news YouTube: a new report claims the social video platform is once again serving ads for major advertisers on videos with objectionable content. This comes after identical claims last year that led to more than a hundred advertisers cancelling ads and boycotting YouTube. Google promised it would fix…
-
A Neuroscientific Approach to Emotional Marketing
Tapping in to someone’s emotional response is more valuable than the verbal response they may give. That visceral reaction tells us what they are feeling, rather than what they are thinking. Using techniques gained from the study of neuroscience, marketers can better understand both behavior and motivation. In turn, this…
-
8 Ways to Build a Personal Brand
For years, marketers have worked with companies to build their brand. Cementing a brand message into a consumer’s mind makes sure you’ll get a shot at their business when they need your service. Imagine your air conditioner stops working and it’s 95 degrees outside. You’ll head to your computer and…
-
Facebook expands its Breaking News test
Facebook is expanding its test group of local and national publishers that get to put that BREAKING NEWS banner on stories. It added another 50 this round based on the initial results of testing. “Drawing attention to breaking news on Facebook will help get important information to people when…
-
P&G Cuts Programmatic Ad Spend by 90% Due to Brand Safety Concerns
SUMMARY: The world’s largest advertiser is cutting back dramatically on ad networks and going back to traditional advertising. The result? Increased reach and decreased spend. The world’s largest advertiser, Procter & Gamble, announced they cut digital advertising spend in 2017 by a whopping $200 million dollars. Halfway through last year,…
-
Online Reviews Really Matter in Business
If you think online reviews aren’t affecting your business, here are a handful of statistics that might change your mind. SOURCE: Forbes The Value of Positive Reviews 90% of consumers say they read online reviews before ever visiting a business 85% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much…
-
Insider Secrets of the Google 3-Pack
Getting ranked in the Google 3-pack of local businesses has never been more important. With the big shift from desktop to mobile in the past couple of years, it has become easier for local businesses to get featured based on proximity to the mobile user. That opens huge opportunities for…
-
Which Advertising Medium Do Consumers Trust the Most?
With U.S. consumers being exposed to an average of 10,000 brand messages every day, and 90% of consumers reporting that advertisements influence their purchase decisions, the power of advertising is undeniable. According to research from Clutch, consumers in the United States say Television and Print are the advertising mediums that…
-
Five of the Biggest Cause Marketing Fails
Cause Marketing has been a buzzword (or is it a buzz-phrase?) for years in advertising circles. Tie your brand or product to a popular cause and hope that some of the good will rubs off. It sounds good, but it doesn’t always work out the way you want. Even some…
-
10 Steps to Creating Effective Social Media Ads
You can’t just set up a Facebook page and wait for it to attract customers. It takes an active, and consistent, approach to work. Here are 10 strategies for success: Define your goals Define your target market Decide how much you want to spend Create your Facebook ads Optimize your…
-
Where does Google go when it wants to roll out a new product? Television.
YouTube TV is rolling out across the country, starting in select markets, which will feature a so-called “skinny bundle” of TV channels, including local channels. It is designed to compete – at a much lower price point – against cable and satellite packages in this era of “cutting the cord.”…
-
My first book has been re-released as a free download on Amazon
My first book – “Weapons of Mass Distinction” – has been re-released and is available as a free download on Amazon. Get it here.
-
What’s a Twitter impression worth?
Twitter impressions are the number of times a tweet shows up in somebody’s timeline. That means every time it’s served up, it counts as an impression. Sure, you need impressions for someone to see your tweet, but an impression doesn’t mean it was actually seen. If it’s in a timeline…
-
Bad ads can destroy brand credibility – and cost you money
Bad ads aren’t just hurting your brand. They’re hurting your sales. 60% of adults in the U.S. says they have stopped buying from a brand because they didn’t like its ad campaign, according to new poll from Civic Science. A great ad can bring new business and reinforce your brand…
-
What drives ROI in advertising? Creative and Reach
Nielsen, the ratings folks, unveiled a study of 500 advertising campaigns which tracked ROI against sales and media usage. Nielsen – Driving ROI in media 47% Creative 22% Reach 15% Brand 9% Targeting 5% Recency 2% Context
-
Branding when your name isn’t Apple or Google
Guest Post: Lara Davis Your brand is the core of your marketing, the central theme around your products and services. Your brand is not your Logo or your Company Name, unless of course you are Apple or Google. For people to come and hire you, or buy from you, your…
-
Great read: Digital Vault highlights the intersection of Digital + Media + Marketing
Blatant-plug-alert! I’m the publisher and editor of another website, Digital Vault, which I’d love for you to check out. The site focus on the intersection of digital, media, and marketing. We now have more than 100 advertising, marketing, and digital evangelists writing and contributing to the site and the growth…
-
Advertising coming to NBA uniforms this season
Look for advertising on NBA uniforms this upcoming season. Eight teams have announced deals with brands. Some have showed off the look – it will be in the form of a “patch” on the upper right front of the uniform over the heart. Photos: NBA
Paul Dughi.com 