Integrated Marketing and Communications

I enjoy thinking about the future of Ad Tech... but it's more fun as a group sport.

I was fortunate that AdStage's JD Prater agreed to join me on a journey into the future. As head of Growth Marketing for AdStage he keeps focused on every trend and every bit of breaking PPC news...

We talked about:

* Digital Billboard ads that might target just a single person,

* Why limited inventory insures it's in Facebook's interest be a great "match maker" for advertisers and users

* How interactive voice based ads might work "Hey Google...,"

* Speculate about Amazon's future, how well they play with other ad networks (and their billion dollar net income from advertising),

* What it means if we all literally owned all the data that was captured (and enhanced) while tracking us,

* My notion that the future of ad tech is more reward ads,

* How Facebook Analytics allows attribution of Reactions (like, love, etc.) right into eCom sales funnels

* How the lose of Net Neutrality might drive update of lightweight HTML like AMP & Facebook Instant Articles

* and much much more!

JD Prater, Head of Growth Marketing at AdStage.

If you don't know JD, you probably should -- even if you are not someone who is buying ads online --

"JD Prater is the Head of Customer Acquisition and Growth Marketing at AdStage. He's a performance marketer and digital media strategist with a passion for organizing data into actionable stories. His expertise is in crafting marketing strategies and campaigns that drive acquisition, retention, and engagement across the customer lifecycle.

AWARDS

- 2017 Top 25 Most Influential PPC Experts

- 2016 Landy Awards Finalist for Best Mobile Search Marketing Initiative — SEM

- 2016 Hero Conf - Most Innovative Session

CONFERENCE SPEAKER

- Hero Conf London 2017

- eMetrics Chicago 2017

- Hero Conf 2016 London

- Salt Lake City Digital Marketing Conference

- Hero Conf 2016 Philly

- Adworld Experience (Italy)

- PPC Hero Live Summit"

Links:

JD Prater (Twitter)

Personal Data.io (Paul Dehaye's company)

Is Advertising Dead? Wired 1994

The PPC Show (podcast)

AdStage's Blog

Transcript

 

(00:00:01.0)

 

(00:00:28.5)

Harry Hawk:

Hello, this is Harry Hawk, and this is Talking About Everything, and today we're talking about the future of Ad Tech with JD Prater. JD, welcome to the show.

 

(00:00:39.7) JD Prater:

Hey, thanks, Harry, for having me on.

 

(00:00:41.1) Harry Hawk:

We're talking about Ad Tech. You're with AdStage. What makes you sort of interested in the future of Ad Tech?

 

(00:00:50.2) JD Prater:

I'll give you two-folds. For me, I've been in marketing now for quite a while. I've had a really fun time with a lot of the advertising side of marketing, more specifically. I don't know. It's one of those things where you can immediately get some kind of immediate result, so I launch something and I get a result, and that becomes really addictive, and that's something that I really like about advertising, whenever you're putting out different messages or different ads or you're testing…that, for me,

Targeting memes with personal data (i.e., Facebook reactions) has been suggested as Cambridge Analytica's low cost "support strategy" for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Brands can use the same or similar tools; in this episode I talk with researcher and personal data entrepreneur Paul Dehaye about data privacy, using memes to "collect" and "share" segments of consumers and the monetization of personal data.

Data About You

Dr. Paul Dehaye wants to liberate (for your benefit) data accululated when brands track your online activities - @hhawk

Dehaye's Data Liberation Startup

Anonymous Pamphleteers

Digital marketing tools used to sell branded products are also used in Elections.

Policies that protect political speech, including "anonymous pamphleteers," (link) can also be used to subvert elections.

They say they don't keep that data - Paul Dehaye

Anonymous Tracking

Policies enacted to protect consumer privacy may also be making it hard for consumers to learn how they are being tracked, monitored, and segmented.

Whither Data Privacy?

It might seem like the primary goal of data privacy is to keep your information safely in your own hands.

Companies "enhance" your personal data and then horde it - @hhawk

The reality is that businesses buy and sell your personal data. Then they segment, cluster, and augment your data with historical and real time information.

They hide what they know about you - @hhawk

The same laws that protect personal data from hackers (and illegal use) also make it hard to discover what large social networks know about you, how they know it, and where the information was found.

#Facebook forced to disclose more information about its ad targeting by @podehaye https://t.co/XnQNl4eeiT #adtech pic.twitter.com/v5HgIbjpSz

— Marcus Sarmento (@msarmento42) February 19, 2017

Innertrends: Analytics in RL

A few weeks ago I spoke with Claudiu Maraiu (co-founder & CEO) of the SAAS analytics company Innertrends.  Claudiu and I spoke about the ubiquity of tracking and monitoring of consumers.

Claudiu took a clear stand that the industry (and our society) has an ethical dilemma it needs to resolve in RL, Real Life.

I played Claudiu's observations for Dr. Dehaye hoping that he would be in agreement; (spoiler alert) he was.

Paul and I did a "deep dive" on privacy and tracking - @hhawk

Marketing - A Force for Good

I truly believe that marketing can be a force for good and as beneficial to society as any other profession.

What Facebook Advertisers knows about me and the brands I interact with (Harry Hawk)

Minimalist Shopping

There are many (on the right and left) who view consumerism and corporate commercialism as scourge.

Yes... we could live in a world with 1 brand of toothpaste, soap, candy, coffee, computers, phones, cars, a single restaurant chain and (for Americans and Swiss) 1 brand of guns.

It may be more efficient and even cheaper since presumably there would be billions saved in marketing and advertising.

It might also mess up the economy killing off innovation and freedom - @hhawk

Unbounce is asking web marketers to wean themselves off of aggressive pop-ups and start on a journey to use respectful "overlays."

We have seen our own conversions jump to 20% or more - Oli

Listen to this podcast to learn more about converting users and Unbounce's overlay strategy.

Invest your time in really understanding your users - Oli Gardner

Three Major Takeaways

In the podcast Oli talks about:

* 20%+ Conversion rates (achievable) via meaningful value (offered)

along each customers' journey

* That "You can be delightful and still convert"

* Major brands using Unbounce's tools include HootSuite, Thomson Reuters, Shopify Plus, Uberflip, Breather, Campaign Monitor & Buffer 

Oli and I had a great time talking

-- I think you will enjoy our conversation about conversions - Harry Hawk

Moving Into the Site

Moving from it's landing page only strategy, Unbounce has released a set of tools designed to work on main web sites called Convertibles.

Oli Gardner

The Convertibles tool set is already robust but, Oli expects the features and functions to grow over the next year.

Convert more by showing targeted overlays to specific users - Unbounce

Respect

The central promise of these tools and Unbounce's guidance in using them is to treat customers with more respect and to give more value.

Don't ask the question until they are ready - Harry Hawk

I suggested to Oli that asking someone to convert is much like asking someone to get married. He agreed.

Culturally we spend a lot of time and effort seeking the right place and right time to pop the 'big' question - Harry Hawk

A comparison of the best vs. the median conversion rates by industry

Conversions

Oli says, "Invest time in understanding your consumers journey and wait for 'just' the right moment" to pop your question. As seen in the chart above, optimizing your conversion tactics can really have an impact.

Conversion: A conversion can mean many things to many people: an email address, a phone number, a sale... - Unbounce.

Missed Conversions

I believe that marketers who lack confidence in their brand proposition (as well as sellers of snake oil) get fixated on the 1x opportunity to capture a lead, and aggressively try to convert before folks are ready.

The Unbounce Conversion Benchmark Report allows you to compare your conversion rates with tens of thousands of landing pages  - Oli Gardner

Rather than fixate on the one opportunity to "convert" marketers should concentrate on giving "extreme value" a term Oli uses often.

What brands desire more than anything is for consumers to invest their time and energy into a dialog and relationship with them. The wrong tactics can have the inverse effect.

By "Popping" the question too fast using loud, obnoxious or over bearing pop-ups site visitors may be "turned off" and discouraged from considering a relationship with your brand.

Missed conversions: ... The average number of additional conversions that could have been achieved by each marketer per quarter if their pages were among the highest converting of pages like it - Unbounce.

A good example is one of the triggers in Unbounce's convertibles restricts overlays to a person's 2nd or 3rd visit -- it seems being patient is a virtue.

The Unbounce Conversion Benchmark Report

During our conversation Oli talked about a pending report on conversions; he was referring to their 2017...

Asking The RIGHT Question

It's easy to think that growing a web site, especially a web business is a constant race to get more and more actionable data.

Often they already have enough data - Claudiu

Claudiu Murariu believes many firms already have enough data, but that they are not asking the right question(s).

Even when they ask the right question and get an answer they don't act on it - Claudiu

Claudiu

Claudiu is the CEO and cofounder of Inner Trends - a data analytics firm that is focused on "transforming growth into more revenue."

The Experiment

Inner Trends recently published a blog post about "The Experiment" a year-long effort to help 7 SAAS (Software As Service) companies by "answering every question they had regarding their user behavior and product usage."

The Experiment is also the name of Inner Trends monthly newsletter - Harry Hawk

Questions are Harder Than Data

A major takeaway from that effort was learning that one of the hardest problems was getting businesses to ask the right questions. Claudiu learned that it was also hard to get them to actually listen to the answers.

When it comes to data, the opposite of “the right question” is not the “wrong question”. It’s an “ambiguous question." - Claudiu

Our Conversation

This episode is the first of several conversations with Claudiu. We learn about his passion for data, and really step-through the evolution of crafting quality questions. I've known Claudiu since 2015 when we were both consultants working for HubSpot Labs.

Inner Trends web based analytics software (starting at $299/ M0). Their basic plan can track and segment up to 10k new customers a month.

A More Beautiful Question

During the conversation Claudiu recommended a book called A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger. The link will take you to Amazon using my affiliate link.

You can also find Claudiu and Inner Trends on Twitter.

Are there any Universal Truths to eCommerce?

Harry Hawk talks with Kurihara Kohei (@kuriharan) regarding the differences between US and Japanese eCommerce. Kurihara-san details a Japanese fondness for complicated user experiences/interfaces, and how many customers in Japan use cash on delivery (COD) to complete their online transactions.

Kurihara Kouhei

Kohei also details how Japan eRetailers complete not only on price but on speed of delivery with rapid same day delivery a major logistical objective. He also talks about his perception of gender segmented shopping habits.  This was recorded for the benefit of students at Southwestern College (SWCCD.edu) enrolled in the Fall 2016 Principals of eCommerce course (BUS 134).

On Friday Feb. 24, 2017 I will be talking with Kurihara-san again. Once that episode is ready I will be put the link here to that episode.

LINKS mentioned:

Kurihara-san on LinkedIN

Rakuten.co.jp vs. Rakuten.com

mercari.com

About Kurihara Kohei: "I am the co-founder and chief representative of Mangaconnect, an enterprise for the visionary to cultivate their frontiers, based in Japan."

Meet Mike...

In the world of Inbound marketing were quality content rules the roost, you might think that paid advertising and those who earn their living buying or selling ads might feel competitive pressure but Mike makes it really clear that the best place to focus the starting point of a digital promotion is amazing organic content. Mike makes it clear you should be working with your sales staff and agreed with me when I talked about the value of the PR team in terms of storytelling and audience building.

Mike sees organic content as part of the validation or optimization process that every digital effort needs. That is, organic content validates both the message and the audience and proves that there is an alignment between that customer base (or persona) and the message you are delivering.

Mike suggests that you would be wasting money if you start promoting before you have validated your approach. I would add this could go even further in that you should also be testing out the landing page(s), and any follow on efforts you may be making once you have brought people to your site. I’m sure Mike would agree.

Mike was very clear, "once it is working you can double down." Which is a very polite way of saying once it is working you can really start throwing money at the effort.

In my overtime conversation with Michael we get even deeper into how today's PPC efforts work. We talk about lookalike audiences, cost per action (CPA), and other even about how to fine tune a digital ad campaign. We talk about return on advertising spend; how to really understand how much you can afford to spend and understand what your business gains from that. We converse about how to blend different priced ads into a single buy, and also about buying during urgent time frame (near a holiday). We talk budgets and every else.

Links:

LinkedIN

Pesonal Page

Dennis Yu - My interview

Dennis Yu - BlitzMetrics

Inbound.org

Official Show Logo

A few weeks ago I spoke with Michael (Mike) McEuen about how to buy and optimize online advertising. Mike really knows this topic because he has worked on all sides of paid advertising triangle. He has been on the sell side with Gannett Papers, on the AdTech side with the company AdStages, and today he is on the buying side at DoubleDutch.

In the world of Inbound marketing were quality content rules the roost, you might think that paid advertising and those who earn their living buying or selling ads might feel competitive pressure but Mike makes it really clear that the best place to focus the starting point of a digital promotion is amazing organic content. Mike makes it clear you should be working with your sales staff and agreed with me when I talked about the value of the PR team in terms of storytelling and audience building.

Mike sees organic content as part of the validation or optimization process that every digital effort needs. That is, organic content validates both the message and the audience and proves that there is an alignment between that customer base (or persona) and the message you are delivering.

Mike suggests that you would be wasting money if you start promoting before you have validated your approach. I would add this could go even further in that you should also be testing out the landing page(s), and any follow on efforts you may be making once you have brought people to your site. I’m sure Mike would agree.

Mike was very clear, "once it is working you can double down." Which is a very polite way of saying once it is working you can really start throwing money at the effort.

In my overtime conversation with Michael we get even deeper into how today's PPC efforts work. We talk about lookalike audiences, cost per action (CPA), and other even about how to fine tune a digital ad campaign. We talk about return on advertising spend; how to really understand how much you can afford to spend and understand what your business gains from that. We converse about how to blend different priced ads into a single buy, and also about buying during urgent time frame (near a holiday). We talk budgets and every else.

Links:

LinkedIN

Pesonal Page

Dennis Yu – My interview

Dennis Yu – BlitzMetrics

Inbound.org

Talking With Dennis About Reach on Facebook

You will hear a lot of people "projecting" their opinions on Facebook's motives for offering paid reach and the reports that organic reach is down. To most it is a conspiracy theory; Dennis (and I) believe that the truth is far different; that Facebook is putting users first and quality organic content still has amazing reach.

Here what Dennis has to say about how to use Facebook to target, message and communicate with your customers, partners and prospective clients. Dennis Yu is the CTO and co-founder of BlitzMetrics.

You can read more about Dennis and BlitzMetics at www.blitzmetrics.com or find Dennis on Twitter @DennisYu

Everette Taylor Jr. (@Everette) started marketing while he was 18 yo and attending college

He was an intern at United Way where old school marketing flourished. Everette helped them implement some digital marketing and with tangible results for United Way and his own personal brand.

It's clear that Everette's personal journey in college lead the way to his success. Everette was head of Growth at Growth Hackers and today is the CMO at StickerMule.com (@StickerMule).

Everette's journey from student, to marketing expert really just follows his own passion, for learning, trying, experimenting and do more of what works and less of what doesn't.

In this 20 minute episode we talk about everything from the companies he has worked with, the tools he uses, and the nuts and bolts of optimizing an ecommerce site. There is a 48 minute and 56 second Overtime episode for those who want to hear more of our talk. Everette talks more about growth hacking and about students and personal branding.

Everettte feels that all students need to work on their personal branding, it's not just about "getting famous" it's about finding jobs, and preparing for the work place of the future.

Both Harry and Everette see that in the future many companies will seek to have their staff amplify their business via their employee's personal branding and personal "platform."

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