By Peter Klein | SVP, Media Services
In the fall 2012 edition of Revenue Performance magazine I wrote an article, “The CMO’s Guide to Affiliate Marketing,” that established the basic principles every marketer needs know to launch an effective affiliate marketing program. Now, I’m turning my attention to the entrepreneurial side — the affiliate/publisher.
As an affiliate myself for the better part of a decade, I know that none of the progress of the performance marketing industry would be possible without the entrepreneurial spirit of publishers.
Being a publisher isn’t easy. In the digital age, many major media sources, as well as the State and Federal governments, conspire to make it difficult for publishers to consistently and efficiently market their business. Even if a publisher makes it through all of those pain points and finds a great campaign to scale, it requires significant financial support and a watchdog mentality to ensure everything runs smoothly.
The road to being a successful affiliate or publisher isn’t easy but it comes with many tangible benefits. Over the course of the next two posts I will lay out the reasons why publishers use affiliate marketing, along with a five-step plan they can use to launch their first affiliate marketing program. (more…)
By Sultan Riaz | Marketing Coordinator
With global Internet usage growing daily, marketers are faced with extensive challenges in engaging, influencing and acquiring their target consumers. Data plays a key role for marketers when building marketing campaigns and strategies. But with consumers accessing online content through multiple devices, a more precise way to analyze and interpret data is needed.
Recently, we spoke with Heather Kraus, MediaWhiz’s performance strategy and analytics manager, and asked her about data trends in online marketing. We also discussed Big Data and how Google’s new Universal Analytics tool helps brands acquire customers. (more...)
By Ori Carmel | VP, Strategy & Performance
Google announced major changes yesterday to AdWords, rolling out what it is calling “enhanced campaigns.” The changes are designed to help marketers “more simply and smartly manager [their] ad campaigns in today’s multi-device world.”
There are two main parts marketers should consider regarding the impact the AdWords changes will have on their work and client campaigns.
First, the changes open up (or rather brings Google up to speed) with a new and improved revenue and ad distribution model, mostly focused around mobile.
Second, the changes bring the advertising and marketing industry one step closer to a comprehensive inter-connected attribution model of consumption. That’s the Holy Grail that marketers have been searching for since the dawn of modems.
Google AdWords Enhanced should help marketers by providing new bid adjustments, customizable ad formatting and simplified reporting. If you have been hesitant to push towards mobile ad distribution, fear no more. Google will help you adjust ads to fit almost all devices, and report back on performance. All of this, of course, should translate to more distribution, more bids, higher budgets and higher revenues (at higher margins) for both marketers and Google. (more…)
By Daryl Colwell | VP, Business Development
Every good marketer knows that to generate leads, they need a robust database. And a good call-to-action. And a means of reaching the potential customers in their database in a timely and efficient manner.
While those ingredients alone won’t necessarily improve your lead-generation campaigns, they will set the stage for the one tool that is a must in any online marketer’s arsenal: email.
But how do you ensure your emails stand out from the crowd? In an age when consumers and business prospects receive hundreds of emails — some great, some OK and many just plain awful — the standard prospecting email won’t cut it anymore.
What you need is great email creative. It’s what helps turn an immediate delete into a potential prospect.
When developing your email creative, keep in mind that not all lists are the same. (more…)
By Keith Trivitt | Director, Marketing and Communications
The 2013 Online Marketing Summit is next week, and MediaWhiz, along with our SEO team, TLA, will be right in the thick of the show. If you’re in San Diego for the show (Feb. 11-13 at the San Diego Convention Center), be sure to visit booth #305 to chat with us about performance and search marketing, as well as SEO and content marketing. Several of our SEO and search marketing experts will be on site to discuss best practices for improving your SEO and search marketing campaigns.
MediaWhiz Vice President Daryl Colwell will take that discussion a step further during his Feb. 12 presentation, “Content Marketing Like a Pro: Tactics and Techniques to Increase Search Engine Visibility.” Here is a brief overview of Daryl’s presentation:
Time/Date: 3-3:45 p.m. PST, Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Location: Room 29D, San Diego Convention Center
Session Description
It’s no longer enough to have great SEO for your website. In today’s Google-controlled era of search engine marketing, brands need great content that is engaging, informative and shareable to rank well and
generate leads. Join Daryl Colwell to learn about his best practices and techniques to increase your brand’s search engine visibility through content marketing. Session attendees will be given several examples and case studies of brands that have gone from ranking on page three to page one purely from professional-quality content marketing that they produce. You’ll come away from this session with a top-10 list of content marketing best practices that the pros use.
Must-Have Information
MediaWhiz will be exhibiting at OMS San Diego, Feb. 11-13.
Meet us at booth #305.
Contact Keith Trivitt for more information or to schedule a meeting with us at the show.
What to Do in San Diego
San Diego is one of America’s most beautiful cities. It’s perfect mix of Pacific Ocean breezes, sunny days and laid-back atmosphere make it a perennial contender as one of America’s top tourist destinations. And there is plenty to do for free. Here are some resources for great activities you can take part in while you’re visiting San Diego during OMS:
By Sultan Riaz | Marketing Coordinator
One of the hottest trends in online marketing is native advertising. While not necessarily a new concept — the relatively old-school advertorial has been around for decades — it has seen a resurgence in the current content marketing era. Recent examples of native advertising can be seen with Google’s paid search results, YouTube’s sponsored videos and, to a lesser extent, trending topics on Twitter.
Content marketing has led to innovative forms of online advertising. With the online user experience key to a successful marketing campaign, this non-disruptive form of online advertising will continue to capture marketers’ addition — and advertising dollars — in 2013.
Native Advertising: The Basics
Native advertising is considered one of the newest forms of online marketing.
According to a September 2012 article in Mashable, the term didn’t take root until famed start-up investor Fred Wilson told an audience at OMMA Global in early 2012 about “native monetization” for Web properties, which he described as ads that were “unique and native to the experience” of a website.
Dan Greenberg, the CEO of Sharethrough, is credited with coining the actual term “native advertising.” Here’s Greenberg’s definition: “Native advertising is a form of media that’s built into the actual visual design and where the ads are part of the content.”
What separates native advertising from the equally hot trend of content marketing is a matter of debate. John LoGioco, SVP and general manager of content at Outbrain, recently told Mashable that the two are pretty much the same. “Native advertising seems to be the thing that most are able to hang on to and get it.”
What Makes for Great Native Ads
At its best, native advertising blends seamlessly with the editorial content of a website while providing content that is valuable to the target audience. Below is an example of native advertising on Twitter.
(more…)
By Marc Purtell | Director, SEO
SEO can be challenging for small businesses. They must compete for the same market share against larger brands that often have more prestige, brand recognition, and consumer affinity.
That doesn’t mean that organic search is out of reach for small businesses as a powerful inbound marketing channel with high potential for return. In order to compete with large brands, small business owners must have an SEO strategy that offsets the often large difference in marketing budget. Because small businesses will not be able to outspend their larger counterparts on media acquisition, they must take a much more targeted and refined approach.
When it comes to short-tail SEO — general phrases with a high amount of search volume — the search engine results pages are dominated by big brands. There is little that a small business marketer with limited budget can do to change these results.
Despite various limitations, small businesses can gain meaningful search engine result real estate with a focus on areas of lowered competition. When geography is taken into account, there is often a much smaller big-brand presence in search results. That opens a window of opportunity for small businesses to gain useful organic search visibility.
Focusing on consumers looking for products and services in specific locales is a great way to limit the competition and give small businesses the ability to gain valuable real estate on search engine results pages. If the business also has an offline presence in a specific locale, there is even more opportunity in targeting these consumers. Consumers trust of a business they can visit in person, which will lead to higher conversion rates. (more…)
By Marc Purtell | Director, SEO
Content marketing isn’t a new or cutting-edge digital marketing practice. But it has evolved into a vital piece of the online marketing puzzle and is capable of impacting other marketing channels, especially SEO.
In today’s arena of social influence on both humans and search engines, developing and promoting content with real value is paramount to success of any digital strategy. For content to generate revenue, it must provide a value to consumer and engage them in conversations.
There are several best practices you should use when creating new content to leverage its potential as a driver of customer acquisition and a catalyst to organic search success.
Step 1: Define the Target Audience
In order to effectively communicate with consumers, it’s important to understand what they are looking for and what is compelling to them. The first step in content development is to perform some consumer research to identify the customer segment the content is targeted to and how it will best be engaged based on its buying patterns. Sites such as MarketResearch.com are a great resource for defining your target audience.
By Keith Trivitt | Director, Marketing and Communications
At MediaWhiz, we’re proud of the stellar reputation of MonetizeIt, our affiliate network. Perennially ranked as one of the top cost-per-acquisition (CPA) networks in the world, MonetizeIt delivers consistent, accountable leads and sales for brands.
It’s for this reason that the publication of the annual Online Advertising BLUE BOOK, published by Revenue Performance magazine, is a highlight of the year for us. While it’s one thing for those of us who work at MediaWhiz to be proud of MonetizeIt and recognize its value in the marketplace, it’s quite another when our industry peers do so as well.
The recent unveiling of the 2013 CPA network rankings marked another milestone for MediaWhiz. Our No. 5 ranking marked the fourth-straight year that we have been rated among the top-20 affiliate networks and the second-straight year we have been in the top-5.
Peter Klein, senior vice president of media services, sent the following note to MediaWhiz staff to address this year’s rankings.
Team,
The 2013 Blue Book Top-20 Networks rankings have been released. I’m proud to inform you that MediaWhiz ranks No. 5, retaining its status as one of the world’s top affiliate networks. This is the second-straight year MediaWhiz has ranked in the top-5 and the fourth-straight year ranked in the top-20.
Our new partners at Matomy Media Group rank No. 12. (more…)
By Keith Trivitt | Director, Marketing and Communications
The release this week of a major report on the growth of the online performance marketing (OPM) industry in the United Kingdom represents a seminal moment for this young industry. The facts and figures it provides are evidence enough that performance marketing is here to stay; that it is a mature, growing online marketing channel that provides significant value to advertisers and publishers.
As Chris Johnson of A4U details in an excellent analysis of the IAB / PwC OPM study, the affiliate marketing industry in the U.K. has been valued (alongside lead generation) as a £9 billion ($1.43 billion) revenue generating industry.
Key Highlights
- There are c. 3,000-4,000 advertisers and c. 10,000 publishers actively engaged in Online Performance Marketing in the U.K. (in this instance — Affiliate & Lead Generation).
- Advertisers expected to spend (through commissions, management fees, bonuses and other marketing spend) £814 million on Online Performance Marketing in 2012, generating c. £9 billion of sales for advertisers.
- This spend was achieved through at least c.100 million transactions and an additional c. 70 million leads generated.
- This is equivalent for c. 7-9% of U.K. digital marketing spend, and drives c. 5-6% of retail e-commerce in the U.K.
- The largest end-sectors include Finance, Retail, Telecoms & Media, Travel & Leisure.
- Market growth of c. 14% p.a (2008-11) and c. 7% p.a in 2012 (expected).
- Cashback, voucher, loyalty and price comparison websites are the leading publisher types.
- Sites designed specifically for mobile and tablet account for c. 4-5% of advertiser spend on Online Performance Marketing. (more…)
