Articles

Lyon Aviation Museum, December 2, 2013

The Internet Marketing Association had the honor of recently hosting an event with Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval at the Lyon Aviation Museum located in Orange County, CA. This intimate executive roundtable event featured representatives from various industries such as real estate, Internet marketing, technology, finance, and government.

The event started off with the governor making an introduction and followed with an open question and answer period with the governor. A variety of important topics were discussed including economic development, internet marketing growth, healthcare, education, and future state development. We would like to thank everyone who came out and made this a successful event.

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DOT Report, Publication by IMA

Internet marketing and Digital Marketing in general are constantly evolving fields, as marketers on the web we are in tow with the changes that Google makes to its algorithm. The latest of the changes is the newly released Hummingbird algorithm.

With the release of the new algorithm, Google tries to capture into a few things

• The changing way in which we access the web, primarily meaning mobile users.
• The type of queries and results required for mobile queries.
• The semantics of our queries.When Hummingbird released, Amit Singhal came to stage to announce that this update affected up to 90% of queries. This is an astoundingly large figure in comparison to the general 2-4% that most updates and tweaks take.Most website owners were a bit surprised however noticing that their results mostly stayed the same. The reason this happened is because of the way we check results and the way this update affected results. We generally compare our results against short term keywords such as “internet marketing” or perhaps “internet marketing association”, however this update affected a large number of extremely long tail keywords such as “what is the future of internet marketing going to be like”.

  Google has pretty openly said that anywhere between 20-50% of searches are quite long tail in nature, and within that set about 20% of terms are terms which Google has never encountered before. This is a number that is ever increasing dealing with the way search is going to evolve, if you think mobile, you may think that because of your limited interface and time you will be typing even shorter queries, which is true, however in the near future when we are using more speech recognition we will have more natural queries such as “what is a good website of internet marketing” or “where can I get a degree in digital marketing”. These are changes in the way that we will be accessing the web and Google is just preparing for a more natural query based search.

  The next question is how are these queries going to make sense to Google, let’s look at a few examples from across the web, let’s say we look at international markets where if we take terms like “Gadi” – this means car in Hindi, which is an Indian language, the term Gadi is interchangeable with car or with a wagon, so when a regional user searches for Gadi, Google needs to understand context and prepare results which would be relevant to the user, based on his location, intention and history.

  There is of course a more natural reason Google has to do these changes, which is more self serving in nature. The updates that Google provides also affect its advertising business, if 20% of the queries that Google sees are new, then there’s no way it can serve advertisements for those queries, however with hummingbird it establishes a way to semantically better understand those queries and then serve relevant advertising as well.

  At the end of all this, what does this mean for you as a webmaster and what do you need to do keep on top of the changes that are being brought about in the updates. From the metrics we have gathered so far, and this is of course not the best time to get very definitive since it’s rather quick after the update, we have found that there is more emphasis on page relevance versus just having large websites which bring little relevance. This means that if people are coming to your website and spending little time, and moving onto the next result, your website isn’t providing the required answers for their queries, if your website is shallow on content or just has mostly filler and no reasonably updated pages, you better get cranking on some updates to your pages.

  In a longer term perspective, mobile is going to be important as is your website look and feel, if you haven’t updated your website to have a responsive design, or if you don’t have a specific mobile version, it’s time to update. As far as user experience goes, make sure that the header is not advertisement heavy, if you are serving a large block of advertising right in the face of the user versus relevant content, you may have some issues with future updates as well. As far as your content goes, you should be updating regularly and adding relevant new content as well.

  We are regularly following what updates are coming into the algorithms and look forward to your comments on how you are finding these updates affecting your website as well. Please feel free to drop in your findings and tell us what you are doing to your websites.

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Employer: Nativo

Job Description: Account Coordinator

As an Account Coordinator at Nativo, you will provide full support to the Business Development and Sales teams and work as part of that team to achieve the overall targets set. From back office administrational support to customer meetings and quotations to campaign maintenance you will keep the team running and the clients happy. The Account Coordinator provides the foundation for Nativo’s rapid growth. They work closely with our clients to determine how we can best serve their needs, grab the attention of consumers, and create innovative and compelling campaigns that deliver results.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage every aspect of advertisement campaigns
• Own the client relationship from the proposal stage to campaign completion
• Write the creative strategy to match to client objectives during the proposal phase; brainstorm the creative 
concept, write the copy and give instructions to the creative team to develop the mocks, and articulate the 
strategy through visuals
• Document how strategy matches back to the campaign goals in the proposal PowerPoint, articulating the 
rationale for the strategy, summarizing the creative concept, and projecting metrics and deliverables for the 
campaign in the proposal
• Upon request, present this strategy to clients and help mold the strategy and concepts pending client feedback
• Work closely with existing customers to maintain their campaigns
• Throughout the campaign, monitor delivery and performance daily and recommend optimizations when possible
• Assemble post campaign reports, which include analysis of performance, key takeaways, and research 
assembly and analysis if applicable.
• Assist in setting up new publisher and advertisers in our platform
• Report to the Account Manager, and support the Senior Vice President, Sales and the Senior Vice President, 
Business Development

REQUIREMENTS

• 2-4 years of experience as an account or media person at an advertising agency (media or creative) or media property
• Exposure/usage and understanding of the digital media ecosystem, social network applications, games and advertising technologies
• Resourceful, quick-witted, and creative enough to come up with ideas on the spot
• Knowledge of and experience of creative design, messaging, and marketing to brand KPIs
• Experience with interactive projects (web development, email campaigns, online media campaigns or related) is 
required
• Experience with analytics platforms like Doubleclick, Atlas, Radian6, Google Analytics is a plus
• Comfort with Excel and PowerPoint a must
• Advertising agency experience is a plus but not a requirement
• Ability to assemble and analyze data to tell a story about performance and optimization
• Manage deliverables and communicate effectively with team members and management
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Adept at working in fast-paced, ever changing environments
• Ability to self-manage independent work on specific projects and manage multiple projects simultaneously
• BA/BS required

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Nativo is a venture-backed company that’s rapidly growing and was founded by serially successful entrepreneurs. Our patent-pending technology is a unique advertising platform on the forefront of the shift of online advertising from interruption to engagement. Our product development involves working with large data and scale indexing, natural language processing, and highly scalable ad serving.

We embrace innovation, collaboration, and creativity. We are a fast paced, all hands on deck growing company where everyone’s contributions make a huge impact. We are looking for serious candidates who want to learn and contribute to our fast growing company. If you are up for the challenge, then we want you!

COMPENSATION

We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package that includes stock options, health coverage, employer- matched 401k, cutting edge work, and the opportunity to join a rapidly growing startup with a proven product.

Join our Team. To apply, go to https://ciedigitallabs.bamboohr.com/jobs/

Please do not contact us if you are a recruiter, agency, or outsourcing company.

By Christoph Trappe, VP of Communications, United Way

A smartphone is one of the most accessible tools nowadays and it can help us document stories that are worth sharing with our networks or audiences. Fifty-six percent of Americans carry one – a number that’s likely to increase.

One way people are collecting and documenting stories is through video. One hundred hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That’s a lot of video. But just because video is shot, doesn’t mean it’s worthwhile to watch for one reason or another. There certainly are ways to produce high-quality video that’s worth watching and that tells stories – either authentic ones or at least entertaining.

“Looking at some of these videos, it certainly is amazing to see that these were shot with smartphones,” said Will Lenzen Jr., who launched a 24-Hour Film Festival in Iowa’s Creative Corridor that required participants to shoot their videos with a smartphone.

Some stories work even if they are shot with low-production value. The horrific traffic crash, the house fire or any other breaking news event will attract viewership even if the picture is shaky. Scripted videos can lose an audience’s attention when production value goes down.

But phones are good for both kinds of videos. Let’s look at the scripted and produced ones for a moment. Some of what’s shared here was gleaned from what worked and what didn’t work at Lenzen’s festival.

Things to consider

Battery life: Once a phone’s battery is out of juice, the phone needs to be plugged in to charge. That could mean a limited amount of time to shoot.

Storage: Some phones – my iPhone, for example (and I love Apple products) – have limited storage. This could mean shooting and constantly dumping footage to a computer. Plus, you might get into a continuous cycle of deleting apps, reinstalling apps, deleting iTunes songs, re-downloading iTunes songs, etc.

Audio: Shooting interviews – especially if the phone isn’t directly in the person’s face – can be tricky. The audio can sound less than stellar. Microphones can be bought for this purpose. Another option could be to record audio with a second device or to shoot only b-roll with the phone and record voiceover later on.

Stability: Handheld smartphone video can be shaky, and it was when I first tried my luck during the 24-hour film festival in Iowa. To say the least, my video turned out a bit shaky. Sam Fathallah, a high school senior at Linn-Mar in Marion, Iowa, said he used to shoot all his videos with an iPhone and uses a steadi-cam with the phone to keep it stable.

Shot length: If you are a novice shooter, keep in mind that you’ll probably want to hold shots longer than you think you should. Once you have a nicely framed shot, hold it for a few seconds. If you want to incorporate a camera move, do that after holding the shot.

Shooting high-quality videos in a day

In October 2013, 10 filmmakers in Iowa’s Creative Corridor participated in the first ever Corridor Filmmakers 24 Hour Film Festival. The rules included that every video had to be shot on a mobile device.

Lenzen, the festival’s founder, said that the rule wasn’t meant to be restrictive but freeing and that stories can be told through simple, everyday devices. All videos can be seen on the festival’s YouTube channel.

Videos ranged from quick-moving shots highlighting the region, to a team shooting at 15 locations, to a video shot by just one person (who also starred in the video).

The audience favorite was one that was “voiced over” by a five-year-old boy. His aunt asked him to tell a story. She recorded the story and then acted the story out using toys and a doll house.

“I didn’t even know my computer had editing software,” she told the crowd at the screening. The video is a great example how audiences appreciate creativity. The team won second place – awarded by the official judges – and was also voted the audience favorite by those in attendance.

Just like in any project, planning can help. Caitlin Wiedenheft, who is the content development specialist on my communications team at United Way in Cedar Rapids, produced a video with her husband, John, who is an email marketing manager at GreatAmerica Financial Services.

“We started writing the script around 8 p.m. on Friday night and finished the shot list around midnight. We woke up the next morning before sunrise and continued shooting until 10 a.m.,” Caitlin Wiedenheft said. “We gave ourselves an hour and a half to edit, with 30 minutes to double-check everything and export the final video. What really saved us was that we wrote a shot schedule and kept to it. We had 5-7 locations and only 3 hours to shoot video so we had to map out our shots in advance and stick to our schedule.”

As tools become easier to use and people get more accustomed to using them, my hope is that the number of authentic stories will continue to increase. Community members, businesses and nonprofits (here’s one example from Cedar Rapids) all can share their stories in an authentic and meaningful way that can help us connect even more.

About the writer:

Christoph Trappe is currently United Way of East Central Iowa’s vice president of communications and innovation and helps United Way as well as Iowa’s Creative Corridor as a whole tell its authentic and meaningful stories. He sits on the Internet Marketing Association’s International Executive Council and often holds workshops on social media and storytelling.

The following are some techniques and tips for building quality inbound links for your website.

Make a Strategy for 6-12 Months

A dynamic and growing look is an essential part of a strong link profile. A sudden hike in links back to your website will warn Google and your website can be under inspection and investigation for unethical practices. Always have a strategy for building links so that they are regular and structured, as you cannot control natural links. Always pre-plan your activities to increase your link build-up. Spend a significant amount of time on planning for your link building strategies for 6-12 months. Always keep your activities balanced and varied over time. Plan accordingly for each day, month or week. Be steady in building up your links to appear natural on the web. Long-term plans are good, but for building links never plan for more than a year at a stretch. In the long term, your goals may change so you may find some ideas for link building become non-viable.

Analyze Competitors’ Backlinks

Analyzing your competitors’ backlinks may help you recognize some great new opportunities. And it is very easy to do this. With the help of a backlink analysis tool like Majestic SEO’s Site Explorer, you can identify the pages linked across the Internet to them. You may also come to know their strategies with this research, which can help you plan a better strategy for your industry.

Compile a Dictionary of Industry Terms

This may serve your industry as a profitable resource, as it may gain natural backlinks from other websites which can link and refer to your website. It acts as a magnet for social engagements and social shares. Real value content has a chance to be ranked high for organic research. Any content that fulfills a user’s need is loved by Google. If your dictionary answers questions regarding industry jargon, it may lead to increased organic traffic to your website.

Write “How-To” Guides

Content that is worth creating and is a very good investment of time is “evergreen” content. A good “How-To” guide is a great example of evergreen content. For example: “How to take a screenshot” or “How to make a power point presentation.” People generally love these kinds of guides and often get back to them in the future.

Do Research and Create a Report

No one loves to do hard work. If anyone finds plenty of information in the same place without doing intensive research, then that is what they will prefer reading. Offer a free report on a research project you have done for your industry. Post that report as a blog or PDF file for free download. This report can be a simple fact file. Insert some graphs or charts in your report, write it well and present it in an attractive format.

Create Hype

Create hype about your project before it’s release, if it is a really important project for your website for building links. Make your blog readers or followers curious to know about what is going to happen and increase their curiosity by telling them that this is something that may interest them. Get the word out across all social media and share the links that are redirected to your resource when it goes live.

Out of the box ideas can help you increase your link build-ups. A great shareable resource is key for building great links.

CAKE

With a digital spend of $47 billion forecasted for 2014, there is no time like the present to start building your performance marketing program! Before you begin, make sure you have the proper technology in place and have built a strategy around that technology. If you want to measurably improve your ROI and optimize your marketing campaigns you will need real-time analytics, detailed reporting and accurate data to ensure your decision making is influencing your marketing investments for the better! Don’t let 2014 pass you by! Create actionable and profitable KPI’s to start seeing both short-term and long-term results across all of your performance marketing channels!

By: Brittany Edmonston
Marketing Associate

Copyright © CAKE 2013. All rights reserved.

Adobe

See the consumer preferences for tablet and smartphone use.

Mobile devices have changed the way that consumers interact with businesses, but not all mobile is the same. Consumers are starting to develop preferences for tablets and smartphones in regard to the brands, operating systems, and circumstances for use.

See what Adobe Digital Index found out about consumer preferences when it comes to mobile, such as:

• Internet users viewing 70% more pages per visit on tablets verses smartphones.
• How tablet traffic differes in the U.K. compared to other European countries and the U.S.
• Which smartphone manufacturer is competing most closely with Apple.

Download The State of Mobile Benchmark Report >

Copyright © 2013 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Eloqua

Understanding how to deliver an end-to-end engaging experience requires a concerted effort to enhance the flow of information between dispersed sales and marketing organizations. Because the majority of B2B buying decisions are made before a sales person even gets involved, the role of marketing has changed. This evolution in buying behavior demands a radical shift in how companies are aligning marketing and sales to maxi¬mize conversion rates.

More than ever, marketers are being held accountable for demonstrating how marketing investments directly translate into sales. That’s why Modern Marketing is fueled by intelligent data analytics and reporting. Implementing the proper analytics systems can help you make critical decisions regarding which parts of your marketing efforts are working or not, and provide the reporting tools necessary to justify those decisions by connecting them directly with pipeline and revenue.

By implementing systems for reporting and intelligence, you can better understand the impact that sales and marketing efforts are having on overall business. You then can refine strategies and develop repeatable processes for success.

Modern Marketers mine conversion data to gain insights into marketing efforts; providing insight on trends, stage conversion history, and other key metrics. However, only 21% of marketers say their current tools are even capable of measuring the right things, according to the report “Defining the Modern Marketer: From Real to Ideal” by BtoB Magazine and Eloqua. Furthermore, only 26% believe the data they collect is even accurate.

Moreover, the increased pressure for marketing accountability requires a modernized approach to managing campaign effectiveness. To understand prospects in a more holistic way, marketers typically leverage firmographic analysis and the market segmentation insights it yields to identify likely buyers. Marketing automation enables marketers to summarize and enhance this wealth of behavioral data — your prospects’ Digital Body Language™ — in different ways. For example, marketers can glean an understanding of:

• Contact’s campaign history
• Program membership
• Activity and behavioral information
• Business Intelligence (BI) to streamline strategy and sales tactics

Intelligently automating marketing campaign delivery and lead scoring, as well as adding a social layer to your customer relationship management (CRM) platform, helps enhance the flow of information between dispersed sales and marketing orga¬nizations. By automating your campaigns, you can improve the buyer’s experience, develop loyal relationships, and track conversion data more effectively. In addition, automated campaigns have higher conversation rates, are much more resilient for maintenance, and can feed critical information directly into existing CRM systems in real-time.

Enabling Sales To Deliver on the Promise of Relevance and Value

While many marketing initiatives are driven by buyer-centric strategies, it’s important to remember that smart Modern Marketing strategies are focused on sales enablement in addition to providing value to prospects and customers. Sales enablement — or sales readiness — is about helping your sales reps deliver the right content to the right person at the right time to cultivate a more active role in the mostly independent buying process.

To empower sales to engage with prospects and customers in a relevant, meaningful way, you must determine which campaign metrics are most important in terms of visibility, such as:

• Closed loop campaign reporting
• Campaign engagement reporting
• Web site analytics reporting
• Database health reporting (media; blog, etc.)

Integrated web analytics lets marketers track social media sites and relevant blogs that drive significant traffic to their website. Marketers can align their content sharing efforts with the social channels most likely to drive higher traffic and engagement, maximizing the impact of each campaign and boosting marketing ROI. The core data that once took hours to fuse together from various systems and spreadsheets is streamlined via mar¬keting automation dashboards to provide visibility into campaign ROI relevant to your specific business needs.

Looking for more ways to put these practices into action? Check out the modern marketing event of the year, Eloqua Experience, October 23-25 in San Francisco. The event features track sessions specific to Analysis and Conversion! Visit the event page for more details and follow the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag #EE13.

Copyright © 2013, Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.