The Final Frontier: Navigating Online Marketing Space

By Alex Kallner

Photo Illustration: Daniel Stein

Imagine what Lewis and Clark would have done with an iPhone.

Lost somewhere between Kansas and Nebraska, they’d Google Maps the quickest route, sidestep the roughest trails, or even Yelp a nice place to stop and eat along the way. As a marketer, you are the Lewis and Clark of our age – boldly navigating billions of pages of web content frontier. Today you’re armed with the unprecedented tools that the explorers of old could only dream of. But are you navigating this space most efficiently? By now you’ve learned that some tools are more effective than others.

There’s no shortage of content. Online, everyone gets a voice. Every buyer and seller, every idea and interest has a small space carved out to call their own over the web. You’ve purchased banner ads, you tried those old pop-ups in the 90’s. And where did your money go? Someone searching for a steak recipe is hustled over to a speaker retailer, someone in search of a speaker is learning more about how to cook filet mignon. The era of explorer-like guesswork is over. The space may be large, but NTENT’s semantic search is designed to eliminate those embarrassing inaccuracies in reaching the right consumers.

Content is king. Think of how much time you spend online. You navigate to exactly the page you intended, to the exact article, with the exact type of content or information you were looking for. Your consumers are no different. People respond well to anything that matches their intentions. An ad is only seen as obtrusive when its relevancy doesn’t perfectly align. A savvy marketer knows that the best ads simply supply a potential consumer with useful, relevant content.

So how do we reach these people? How do we direct them to your site? Traditional, individual keywords are antiquated. The last thing you need is someone searching for an Apple computer when they meant to find the fruit. Until recently we could never get more specific. Today we have semantic search.

Enter NTENT. With semantic technology in development for years, our smart marketers use us to shrink the massive online landscape, to access users reading relevant content to their business. In short, we’re matchmakers, pairing you with the right person, at the right place, at the right time. Gone are the days of blind keyword bidding. Gone is the guesswork in reaching that perfect consumer. We’ve done the heavy lifting for you. Combining our semantic technology with our robust publisher network, NTENT’s semantic search is the key to branding you in front of pre-qualified consumers.

You are the pioneer explorers of the internet’s vast terrain. These days, a compass and a map just aren’t enough. NTENT is your indispensable guide to finding the specific online spaces where you perform best. NTENT excels at finding your ideal visitor. NTENT has charted all the landscape for you to explore, now it’s your turn to take the journey.

Top 5 Back-To-School Marketing Secrets for Small Businesses

One of the biggest shopping seasons of the year is upon us—2014 Back-to-School! Parents all across the country are on the hunt for back-to-school deals and early bargains. How can you make your business stand out from the pack amidst all the chaos and frenzy? Whether you are selling clothing, school supplies, or dorm furniture, there are lots of ways you can attract school shoppers to your business and take advantage of this busy shopping season.

Follow these 5 simple marketing ideas to help you market your business and make the most of the back-to-school season:

1. Think outside the box. Even if your products or services have no obvious back-to-school tie-in, you can still create one. Put your thinking hat on and forge a back-to-school connection to your business! School shopping is not strictly limited to back-to-school items. If you’re selling a nutrition-related product, tie it back to “healthy school lunch ideas.” If you’re in the personal care business, such as a hair salon, gym, or spa, offer coupons or discounts for parents and teachers—the possibilities are endless!

2. Put yourself in your consumer’s shoes. As with all campaigns, understanding your audience, their mindset, needs and desires is key in order to position your business as the perfect solution. This is a busy time for your consumers as they are rushing to get everything they need before school starts so it is important to communicate budget, quality, and ease of shopping in your promotions. Once kids have gone off to school, parents will have more time to do the things they’ve been putting off which is great for “the kids have gone back to school” promotions and perks.

 

3. Promote your business across a variety of channels. The great thing about marketing today is that there are so many ways to get your brand name out there. When building a campaign, it is important to reach your target audience across a variety of channels—your website, mobile site, social media accounts, email promotions, and any form of online or local advertising. Wherever your audience is, that is where you want to be! Create a Facebook Back-To-School sweepstakes for kids. Target parents via radio—parents are spending a lot of time in the car this summer right before school starts, taking their kids to and fro. Try creating online coupons that can be printed and redeemed in store.

4. Show support for local schools and causes. It’s important to have a presence in your community and to show support for your local teachers, school athletes, and community service programs. Supporting a cause can help differentiate your brand, generate favorable public opinion, and foster brand loyalty with your consumers. Create a promotion for your products or services and have a portion of the proceeds be donated to a local school. You can also partner with schools to sponsor school-related events or fundraisers, such as a pizza shop having a contest for local schools to host a pizza party. Another area of opportunity is partnering with or creating a campaign around school-related causes that promote education, child development, or anti-bullying initiatives.

5. Hold a “Last Chance” Sale. With all the hustle and bustle and rush to be prepared for when classes start, parents are on the lookout for the quickest solution to their problems, at the best price. “Last chance” sales mirror this sense of urgency by offering last-minute discounts on quality products to draw customers in. Maybe a customer was thinking about buying your products or services but decided to hold off for a later time–lock-in the sale by creating a sense of urgency and a promotion that speaks to your shoppers. “Last chance to get that manicure you’ve been thinking about before all that homework keeps you busy!” or “last chance to get a discount on back-to-school haircuts,” you get the idea! 

The back-to-school season is a lucrative one so make sure you take advantage of it by following these easy ideas. Remember to keep your target market’s needs and desires in mind, be creative with your promotions, and have fun!

Have some additional tips to add? Share how you are taking advantage of the Back-To-School season by posting in the comments section!

4 Schools that are Rocking Content Marketing and Why

No brand is exempt from making content marketing a top priority these days, and for colleges, interactive digital content marketing is particularly essential, considering their audience is comprised of an extremely internet-savvy demographic.

Teens, in particular, make up a large portion of college audiences, prompted by educational experts to start to preparing for college as early as possible and, not surprisingly, the method they engage with schools is via the Internet. In fact, a recent report states that approximately 77% of students say they’ve used social media in their college search.

Content marketing with video, apps, blogs and myriad social tools and platforms is perfect to narrate any school’s story—allowing it to paint a perfect picture for a perspective student to consider.

There are, however, a few schools that rise to the top for their innovation and creativity. Let’s face it, the teen audience is a tough one, and in order to appeal to them effectively, the content and media posts must be engaging! So who gets the gold stars for rocking their content marketing? These four schools go to the head of the class:

Yale University

Yale University takes top honors amongst this group of four contenders—with an impressive array of content robust in scope and innovation. One of the main highlights of all their content is their virtual tour feature, which allows you to “visit” practically the whole campus—offering perspective students a 360-degree view of each locale. Also, Yale’s Facebook page features this tour, along with their YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and up-coming event content on their page.

 

UCLA

UCLA’s puts its content marketing endeavors front and center. Immediately upon going to their pleasantly designed, student-friendly website, content such as news and events articles take center-stage. The impressive amount of newsworthy, current content makes UCLA interesting and compelling enough, not just for perspective students, but to anyone interested in well-written, fascinating articles on a panoply of topics to bookmark for future reference.

 

Stanford

Stanford has a number of different blogs, but it gets kudos for The Unofficial Stanford Blog, produced by a group of students, faculty, and staff dedicated to innovation in online content and distribution. Their unique viewpoint speaks volumes and adds to the rich mix of content the school aims to market. Stanford also rocks their Instagram account—with over 40,000 followers, they are one of the most influential colleges on Instagram. Their account features student life, events and campus shots.

 

John Hopkins University

John Hopkins website, Hopkins Interactive, is a guide to the school through the eyes of current students. This highly engaging site is a treasure trove of engaging content, including videos, interactive magazines, social, blogs and forums.

Hopkins obviously did their homework to know the tastes of their socially savvy teen audience as evidenced by its liberal use of buttons for all the top social platforms—predominately placed on the page, not just once, but twice—along with a Twitter and Instagram feed.

Hopkins Insider’s Guide—is formatted as a virtual magazine. Quite unique and appealing, it is created and designed by current students for future students featuring an inside perspective of the school. This comprehensive e-magazine is retooled each spring with a brand new perspective for next year’s group of admitted students.

These schools demonstrate that rich content and stories, told from a diversity of viewpoints, combined with sharing via multiple social media channels is a winning combination. The lesson to take away is that it is simply not enough to have great content and compelling stories, rocking the content marketing landscape means knowing exactly where and how your audience consumes the media content you want to share.

A Simple Guide to The Advertisers Bill of Rights

Media reports have been shining a light on questionable video ad practices where some advertisers have been running ads that could not be viewed or had other quality issues. With that thought in mind – and, in light of the upcoming Independence Day holiday in the United States – we thought that we would take a shot at penning an Advertiser’s Bill of Rights to address those intolerable acts.

In the United States, basic rights are outlined by the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution). What would James Madison and lawmakers of the 1700s say if they were writing amendments that guarantee freedoms and rights to advertisers? How can brands become more independent and free from bad practices and actors?

Ad viewability is at the core of the problem. Advertisers are being charged for false impressions that weren’t actually “seen” by consumers. This week, the Media Ratings Council (MRC) helped address the problem by officially blessing the sales of digital video ad impressions based on viewability. It’s an important step forward in a controversial area, but it’s only the first step. Much work still needs to be done to make sure that advertisers get fair value and return on their video advertising.

When so many people are challenging exactly what “viewable” means, it’s now time to define the rights that advertisers should protect advertisers when executing a digital video ad campaign 

Please read on; we hope you enjoy this patriotic, tongue-in-cheek article – and no animals (or ad networks) were hurt in the process!

Congress of the Video Advertising Ecosystem begun and held at the City of New York, on Thursday the third of July, two thousand and fourteen.

THE ad industry expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further considerations should be added to the viewability debate.

RESOLVED by smart people everywhere, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Industry.
ARTICLES proposed by Congress, and ratified by several marketers, publishers, and agencies.

 
1.    Freedom to interact with consumers the way advertisers want – on the right platform at the right time.

Mobile devices are becoming the primary screen for many consumers. Objective, credentialed, third-party measurement options will help to measure mobile ad views comparative to television.

2.    Freedom to display relevant videos in the right context.

New technologies make it possible take into account context, content, and user interests to feature video content in a more organic and compelling fashion. This helps advertisers reach users when they are most receptive and interested in the subject.

3.    The right to better data-driven strategies and results.

Programmatic marketing has allowed marketers to automatically bid to serve ads to specific users. This presents a new issue: ads are being bought programmatically on exchanges based on data, yet they are not always viewable. According to a study by Integral, 40% of ads bought through ad exchanges are fully in view. Advertisers should not have to pay for the remaining 60%, and automated processes should not be a dubious black box.

4.    Protection from bad actors.

Online fraud tends to happen more so in display than in video, but quality assurance is still a key consideration when implementing a video ad strategy. The MRC said that videos don’t have to be viewed for two seconds if the video is clicked on and is “legitimate” (meaning that it wasn’t fraudulently clicked on by a bot). Legitimate clicks should be the norm; not the loophole in the viewability debate

5.    The right to have videos viewed for more than two seconds; the MRC’s proposal is just a start.

Digital video is a responsive product that should be measured on effectiveness and completion of an action. Two seconds is not enough time to have a message conveyed to the consumer. Advertisers should demand a performance-based model to ensure that advertisers only pay when ads are viewed to completion.

6.    The right to a video player that is 100% visible and above the fold.

The “50% video player visibility” standard was set with good intentions, but it opens the door for publishers to count impressions when readers don’t actually watch an ad at all. If someone is scrolling down a site and the top half of a video player isn’t in view, it’s a safe bet they’re not watching it at all. 

7.    The right to quality assurance.

Veenome recently reported that 83% of “objectionable” videos are found on predominately brand-safe publishers. The ability to buy quality inventory from quality publishers should be a given.

8.    The right to transparency.

Advertisers have expressed a growing concern that they don't fully understand the deals that occur between media agencies and media companies, especially as the use of programmatic digital buying becomes more popular. It’s an issue that needs to be addressed – when $30 billion is spent on digital advertising in the U.S., there shouldn’t be any question marks about where that money is going.

9.    The ability to identify attribution scientifically – who gets the credit?

Ad networks should provide the tools necessary for campaigns to succeed. It can be difficult to determine when a particular ad convinces a consumer to make a purchase. Advertisers should have access to surveys and tracking solutions that make it possible to audit a campaign to figure out what’s working and what’s not. 

10.    The right to have the supply and demand side work together quickly and efficiently.

The industry should be thinking about how to make the workflow process as efficient as possible, for the ultimate benefit of the brand. When it comes to video advertising, the goal is to get the supply (those with inventory) and the demand side (advertisers) to co-exist on one platform.

21 Essential Mobile Marketing Stats for 2014

21 Essential Mobile Marketing Stats for 2014 from NTENT

The statistics don't lie, mobile marketing has exploded exponentially, and will only continue to grow in the coming months. These are some of the latest facts, stats and key findings on the topic. Use them when developing your mobile marketing strategy.