Marketing

German: Collaborative Economy

The native advertising model raises a number of important issues for publishers. What kind of advertiser is best to work closely with? Is the advertiser's brand complementary to the publisher's? Will the audience find the content engaging? How and where should it be labeled on the site? The list of questions can seem endless. And that doesn't even include the often uncomfortable clash that can arise with the editorial department. This trial by fire process is giving publishers a reason to create a universal set of guidelines for their organizations. These guidelines will help the sales team determine not only which brands to work with but how to work with them. It will also help them adapt to the native concepts lurking around the corner -- Gawker's "commerce journalism." When experimenting with new native concepts or choosing a new partner for an established native placement that you've already been running, what are the rules? This places publishers in an ideal position to lead. Here is a list of questions to consider when producing a set of guidelines for native advertising. Who needs to be involved in ideation? While the precise mechanism may vary from publisher to publisher, native placements are still bought and sold as ads -- with an extra creative layer. A good native program doesn't wrangle with a publisher's audience, but rather enhances the customer experience on the publisher's site. For ads to be truly native and unique to a publisher's brand, a degree of imagination is required. Who at the organization is ideating on native concepts? Is that a function the person is well suited for? To achieve a seductive native program within a company, some inter-organizational cooperation between creative and business forces may well be needed. What is the experience going to be like for users? What will users see after their initial click and where do they engage with the content -- behind a wall, login or takeover, or below the fold? When it comes to user experience, publishers know good design and good execution. They should leverage this knowledge to help the advertisers maximize engagement with their content, which in turn benefits everyone. Where should it appear? When native ad placement comes up, the conversation is usually about how well the unit is integrated into the look and feel of the site. What has yet to be defined this early in the game is where on the page -- and by extension, the site -- the native ad will best perform. Since native ads often become another piece of content in the editorial experience, this is a question best suited for publishers to answer. Even then there's no science to it. Or is there? In these uncharted waters, taking a data-driven approach to how the publisher's regular editorial performs on various parts of the page can help inform an optimal native placement. Native ads represent an opportunity to breathe new life into under-used or under-appreciated portions of a site. Through great content, publishers can retrain readers to engage with placements they may have previously ignored. How do we choose bedfellows? In regards to what happened to The Atlantic, the industry is on high alert for incongruous publisher and advertiser relationships. But let's not forget the factors that led to the outcry -- the quality of content and the overall controversial status of the advertiser. How about less risky partnerships? For example, a parenting site would shy away from a violent video game producer, but what about a major CPG with sugary cereals in its portfolio? If the advertisers have great content -- not to mention dollars -- at what point does the risk of backlash outweigh the potential rewards? Setting up guidelines to address these questions can save you the headache for later, but don't be surprised if an unexpected scenario creeps up. As challenging as this may be in the current economic environment, choose the side of value for the user over short-term monetary gains.

"I don't want to walk around looking like an idiot." "It's several thousand dollars." "I couldn't imagine wearing that." "I'm trying to limit my distractions to the actual world." "I really don't think I need to be that connected to everything all the time." "Glasses just don't really do anything for me." "It'll be too expensive." "I'm going to be a holdout for a watch-type device." "I'm going to wait for it to drop in price." "I have an iPhone. I'm perfectly content with my iPhone." "I already have glasses." "I'm not really an early adopter." "You'll have to check with our CEO." Click here to subscribe to the iMedia YouTube channel for more exclusive content "A man is seen wearing Google Glass at the premiere of 'The Internship' at the Regency Village Westwood" image via Shutterstock.view full article | Add a comment

“If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.” - W. Clement Stone

What's the Future of Business? UX + CX [Podcast] via @marketingprofs

Why Mcafee did that video: He wanted to distance himself from the software stigma, see interview by @Dan_Holden

RT @FrankEliason: Rental Car Co. Run by Teenagers Undercuts Hertz, Avis - Yahoo! via @YahooNews @Jowyang should chec…

Small business owners are putting less on the line, but feel more optimistic about the future. Are they seeing through rose colored glasses?Small business owners say things are looking up, according to the latest Citibank Small Business Pulse survey. This year's query of 750 respondents revealed only 14 percent feel business conditions are poor--the lowest level since the survey launched in 2010. Nearly half of the small businesses (48 percent) say conditions are good or excellent, up 24 percent since 2010. Fifty-four percent say they expect 2014 to be even better. A possible cause for the shift might be that fewer owners are having to bootstrap, or finance their venture out of pocket.While fewer business owners fund their ventures with personal savings--37 percent compared to 62 percent in 2012--about a third mix the two together. Nearly 14 percent of all business owners say they use personal credit account for their business, the survey found. But the past year has also been kinder to small business owners in general. The percentage of owners taking less profit to support their business fell from 78 percent to 64 percent, while that of owners who took on more responsibility--often because they couldn't afford to hire staff--similarly dropped from 67 percent to 54 percent. "As conditions improve, many small businesses are planning to add staff despite some still reporting a ‘skills gap’ in the U.S.," said Jerome Byers, head of Citibank Small Business, in reference to the 16 percent of small business owners who claim they cannot find quality help. "Plans for physical expansion are in the works too, including the possibility of small businesses crossing international borders--and well they should. With global services and resources to support them, no business is too small to consider international options to find suppliers or customers."In fact, 13 percent said they plan to add more locations, while a quarter would consider expanding to markets abroad.

It’s been less than a month since Google’s latest search update launched, and although the new spam-fighting Penguin 2.0 technology hasn’t been fully implemented yet, it’s already causing an bit of anxiety. Content marketers need not despair as long as they plan to stay on Google’s safe side. According to data compiled in Marketo’s most recent infographic, Google Bought a Zoo, that means steering clear of underhanded SEO techniques such as link spamming, sneaky redirects or cloaking, and sticking only to high-value, white hat tactics. Specifically, websites that focus on producing relevant and unique content, while ensuring proper website optimization, credible backlinks and strong social signals are less likely to feel the heat of Penguin 2.0. Consistently updated content, quick webpage load time and credible links from reputable websites are also ways to ensure minimal impact. Here’s the complete look at what Google has in store: © 2013 DK New Media.

According to a 2012 study by Yext, $10.3 billion in annual offline sales are potentially lost from missing or incorrect information online. In my own travels I’ve seen profiles with old addresses, wrong phone numbers and dozens of mentions with the wrong hours. If your Google listing says you’re open until 5 on Sunday and I come at 4 and you’re closed, I’m not coming back. The upside of the internet is that information spreads quickly. The downside of the internet is that information spreads quickly. If you move to a new location, updating every company mention on the web is impossible. But now, thanks to Yahoo, you can make a dent in the bad data. Yahoo’s new LocalWorks program is a one-stop dashboard for more than 40 online business directories. When you sign up, you fill out your profile following a template that has room for photos, videos and offers. When you’re done, Yahoo auto submits your listing to 40 directories. Once you’re listed, you can monitor all of your feedback and comments from that same dashboard. Need to change your address, hours or offers? Make the change in your dashboard and Yahoo pushes the updated info out to all of the sites. For a small business owner, the ability to make all of that happen from one place is incredible. It also means there’s no excuse for poor customer follow-ups. If your dashboard starts filling up with complaints from several different review sites, you’ve got two problems; a business issue that needs to be corrected, and a bad reputation online which is much harder to fix. Your best bet is to get ahead of the issues, respond honestly and quickly then pray for good customer feedback to push the bad stuff off the page. Yahoo Local Listing cost 49.99 a  month billed quarterly. Now through September 30, they offering it at only $29.99 a month. You can try it and quit but be aware that once you update to the advanced local listings, those listings will disappear along with your account. Make sure you understand the ramifications before you spend a lot of time with the system. Without actually seeing the results, it sounds like a good deal for $29.99 a month.