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The 7 Most Successful Business Models Of The Digital Era

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By Bernard Marr

The first two decades of this century are characterized by digital entrepreneurs upending traditional business models in search of new ways of creating revenue and serving customers.

This has been made possible by the emergence of several new waves of technology – from desktop computers to the internet, mobile devices, and the cloud. Going forward, these waves of disruption seem certain to continue as new breakthroughs such as artificial intelligence (AI) continue to redefine the way we shop, work, play, and live our lives.

Often these business models are used in combination – for example, a software provider might make a “freemium” version available, supported by advertising revenue, while also offering a premium, ad-free service to those that are willing to pay. Or e-tailers like Amazon may make revenue from e-commerce while also acting as a marketplace where other sellers can offer their goods in exchange for a cut of the profits.

Anyone wanting to do business today – or understand how money is going to be made tomorrow – needs to understand the fundamental models underpinning the digital economy. So here’s my overview of some of the most successful and important and an explanation of how technology has made each of them possible.

The ad-supported business model is among the most successful of the digital era. It is behind the rise of companies like Google and Facebook, which match users to products and services using AI and analytics. This has become possible due to the sheer amount of user data that can be captured from online users. The success of these businesses is due to the concept that “if you’re not paying, you’re the product.” In the days of newspaper, radio, and television advertising, the data that could be collected was limited to information gleaned from audience and market research surveys. Today, every click, follow, like, and share – as well as the information we directly give to sites and services – can be used to learn about us. This data is collected from audiences and users and sold to advertisers who use it to predict what products and services we might want to buy.

As it’s simplest, this simply refers to companies that offer products and services online directly to the customer. This can describe the giants such as Amazon and Alibaba that sell products directly to consumers themselves but also operate as marketplaces. It also describes thousands of smaller and niche businesses that exist today, generally operating via platforms and marketplaces such as Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, or Alibaba. E-commerce offers a super-convenient and affordable way for just about anyone to start selling their products globally without having to worry about the logistics and expense of setting up bricks ‘n’ mortar stores. Platforms and marketplaces make the job of setting up a storefront and listing products a one-person job, and e-commerce operators will often leverage the power of advertising platforms such as Google or Facebook to reach customers in their niche. The value of global e-commerce was estimated to be around $10 trillion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $27 trillion by 2027.

Freemium

The freemium business model generally involves offering a basic, no-frills version of a product or service for free but charging users if they want to access premium features. Examples include Spotify, which puts limits on how users can listen to music unless they are subscribers, Dropbox, which offers limited storage and transfer speeds to free users, LinkedIn, which lets anyone browse job adverts and list vacancies, but enables advanced analytics functions to subscribers to help with job searches and hiring, and Zoom, which limits the length of meetings and the number of participants for free users.

Productivity and workplace software-as-a-service providers also frequently use the freemium model, then offer individual or corporate licenses to users who want to access the full feature set without limitations. It’s also popular with games publishers, who use a free version to get players hooked before enticing them to either take out a subscription or buy individual features or benefits on a “pay-to-play” basis.

Marketplace/ Platform

This model covers both the e-commerce providers like Amazon and Alibaba, which have grown into marketplaces where anyone can set up their own business. It also covers more specialized platforms like eBay, Uber, or AirB’n’B. Users benefit from the prominence and financial clout of these platform providers, which will often use analytics and advertising campaigns to drive traffic to their customers’ stores or listings. For the marketplace or platform owner, the benefit is that they do not even have to provide a product or service themselves, and they can simply take a cut from every business that sells through them. We can also include “gig economy” sites like Fiverr, Freelancer, and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk in this category, as they offer platforms for individuals to offer their own one-to-one services to businesses.

Subscription

This refers to any business which charges customers a regular payment. Initially, it would generally refer to service providers – such as Netflix offering movies on demand, or Microsoft and Adobe offering software-as-a-service subscription packages such as Microsoft 365 or Adobe Creative Cloud. Increasingly, however, product retailers and manufacturers are offering goods and consumables through subscriptions as well. This includes home fresh food delivery businesses such as Hello Fresh and Gousto. Amazon is an example of a business that covers the whole spectrum – offering digital services like video, music, and cloud computing infrastructure, and also product subscriptions that deliver physical goods directly to customers’ doors. This business model enables organizations to generate a regular income while also developing ongoing relationships with customers, meaning they are able to offer different products and services as their customers’ requirements change. Niche and independent businesses might also choose to generate revenues through subscriptions by taking advantage of a platform such as Substack, which allows audiences to connect with individual creators.

Aggregator Sites

This business model involves scraping the web for companies offering products and services, then aggregating them into a handy portal where shoppers can compare prices, features, and benefits. Some well-known examples include PriceRunner, PriceGrabber, and Shopping.com. Other aggregators specialize in particular markets such as comparethemarket and moneysupermarket (insurance and financial services) and Expedia (holidays and travel). Rather than charging a fee to businesses that advertise their products on their sites, these businesses generate revenue from referrals they are paid when we buy products through them.

Crowdfunding

The final digital era business model we can’t ignore is crowdfunding. The big crowdfunding sites – such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Gofundme, are also platforms offering other businesses the opportunity to raise funding via small donations from a large number of individuals. Crowdfunded businesses themselves are those that use money generated through these platforms as a source of revenue, often to launch niche or prototype products. Other sites like Patreon allow creators to build personal relationships with their audience, often allowing them to create ongoing products or services such as music, videos, or writing.

To stay on top of the latest on new and emerging business and tech trends, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter, follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and check out my books ‘Future Skills: The 20 Skills And Competencies Everyone Needs To Succeed In A Digital World’ and ‘Business Trends in Practice, which won the 2022 Business Book of the Year award.

Feature Image Credit: Adobe Stock

By Bernard Marr

Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchains, and the Internet of Things. Why don’t you connect with Bernard on Twitter (@bernardmarr), LinkedIn (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bernardmarr) or instagram (bernard.marr)?

Sourced from Forbes

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Confessions of a social media entrepreneur on the pressure to constantly create content

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By Kimeko McCoy

Social media fragmentation, the rise of TikTok and social media’s expedited pivot to video has upped the ante for client expectations. Agency partners in public relations and social media say they’re feeling the impact as clients are increasingly asking for more content, feeding platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels in hopes for a viral moment.

The surge in workload has pushed one social media marketing entrepreneur to remove social media management service offerings to focus on content creation. In this latest edition of our Confessions series, in which we exchange anonymity for candour, we hear from that social media entrepreneur about client expectations in the fast-paced, ever-changing social media landscape.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

As a content creator and social media strategist, what’s your experience in today’s current digital landscape? 

One thing I’ve noticed, for a change, [is] clients don’t necessarily understand what it takes to get the results that we do. They’ll drop a lot of ideas on you at once, or they have a lot of different ideas that they want to do at once, but not necessarily know that it takes a lot to execute it. Then they want you to get it out very timely. This is a process. Sometimes, the process seems a little rushed now because of how fast paced everything is happening — new features and everyone wants to keep up with everybody else. It just seems like people don’t necessarily appreciate the process anymore when it comes to social media experts.

So there’s pressure on you to put out good content fast? How does that impact the way you work? 

It definitely does. My agency recently had 12 clients at once. That was a hard thing to manoeuvre, even now, because of how burnt out I felt in dealing with that. I literally started changing my business activity. I used to say that we specialized in social media management and content creation. Now, I’m saying that we specialize in just content creation.

Why did you do that?

I was making 30 posts a month for my clients. When I got a little bit more experience, I changed my lowest [service] package to 15 posts a month and a few Reels a week. Now, you have to create Reels. It’s just videos. Now, we have to force the clients to get that content. Before, it was just me making the content. I didn’t necessarily need them. But now, I need those Day in the Life videos. I need you to show your expertise, go live and collaborate with others. You have to do these different things now to thrive on these different platforms. [But] they’re busy too. That’s why they hired me. So that has definitely become a struggle within itself too — just being able to connect with my clients for them to get me the content that I need.

What social media platforms are taking up the most of your time and energy? 

Instagram, definitely. TikTok, I see as the least amount of effort. With all of my clients, we’re able to have fun on TikTok. But with Instagram, everything has to be so technical because some of my clients have different [product] features that some of my other clients don’t. If a client sees something, they’re like, “I want that. Can I do something like that?” And it’s like, “You don’t even have that feature [available on your account].” Then they feel upset and we have to manage expectations. [Clients asked for more] when Reels came out. When video content literally took over, because everybody wanted to be seen. When Reels dropped, that’s the only way people saw people’s content. [It] was through video content.

You said Instagram Reels is a heavier lift for you, in terms of content production than TikTok. Why? 

Everybody wants to be perfect on Instagram. TikTok thrives off of authenticity. You can literally do a video of you in bed, talking about whatever and it will blow up because people love you, relate to you… As far as Instagram, you may not see a post for three days that somebody posted. Or you may not see somebody’s story because Instagram is only showing 10% of their followers’ posts. There’s so many technical things with Instagram now that’s just drawing people away.

By Kimeko McCoy

Sourced from DIGIDAY

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How To Scale Your Business Online

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By Markus Hetzenegger

As a business owner, you’re always looking for ways to grow your company. Scaling up can be a daunting task, but one strategy that has proven effective for many businesses is digital marketing. Specifically, performance marketing can help you reach new customers, increase sales and grow your bottom line. This is something we help our clients with.

Performance marketing is a data-driven approach to advertising that focuses on achieving specific business goals, such as driving website traffic or increasing sales. Instead of paying for ad impressions or clicks, you only pay for the desired action, such as a purchase or a lead. This makes performance marketing a highly cost-effective way to reach your target audience and achieve your business objectives.

So, how can you use performance marketing to scale your business? Here are a few key strategies to consider:

Set Clear Objectives

Before you start any performance marketing campaign, it’s important to set clear, measurable goals. What do you want to achieve? Do you want to increase website traffic, generate more leads or drive sales? Whatever your objectives, be sure to define them in specific, measurable terms. This will help you track your progress and optimize your campaigns for maximum performance.

Identify Your Target Audience

The success of your performance marketing campaigns depends on your ability to reach the right audience. To do this, you need to understand who your ideal customer is and what motivates them. Use data and analytics to create detailed customer profiles, including demographics, interests and behaviors. This will help you create highly targeted campaigns that speak directly to your audience and drive conversions.

Select The Right Platforms

There are countless digital marketing platforms available—from social media networks to search engines to display advertising networks. To get the most out of your performance marketing campaigns, it’s important to choose the platforms that best align with your goals and target audience. For example, if you’re targeting younger consumers, you may want to focus on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. If you’re targeting professionals, you may want to focus on LinkedIn or Google Ads.

Develop Performance Design

To stand out in a crowded digital landscape, you need to create compelling, attention-grabbing creative. This includes everything from ad copy to images and videos. Your creative should be designed to capture the attention of your target audience and communicate the unique value proposition of your product or service. Make sure your messaging is clear, concise and compelling, and that your creative aligns with your brand image and voice.

Test And Optimize

One of the key advantages of performance marketing is the ability to track and measure your results in real time. This allows you to test different campaigns, creative, and targeting strategies and optimize for maximum performance. Use A/B testing to compare different versions of your ads and landing pages, and use data to identify the highest-performing elements of your campaigns. Continuously refine your strategies and adjust your campaigns based on performance data to achieve the best results.

Conclusion

Performance marketing can be a highly effective way to scale your business and reach new customers. By setting clear objectives, identifying your target audience, using the right platforms, developing compelling creative, and testing and optimizing your campaigns, you can achieve your business goals and drive growth. But remember, success in performance marketing requires a data-driven, iterative approach. Stay focused on your objectives, be willing to experiment and adapt, and use data to guide your decisions. With the right strategies in place, you can multiply the total revenue of your business and take it to beyond imaginable heights.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Markus Hetzenegger

Founder & CEO of NYBA AG ⎜A Leading Performance Marketing Agency. Read Markus Hetzenegger’s full executive profile here. Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Sourced from Forbes

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AI’s Role in Digital and Retail Personalization, Part 1: The Big Picture

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By Justin Racine

Now more than ever, the convergence of retail and digital commerce has never been more important.

The Gist

  • Dreams and the path. Desire leads to personalized journeys and trajectories, as seen in my this author’s own story of buying a Mustang and getting a marketing internship.
  • The evolution. Personalization has been around for decades, evolving from traditional relationship marketing to email marketing and now AI-powered personalization in almost all aspects of life.
  • Three-part series. This series will explore three main components of personalization in retail, digital, and the intersection of dissonance and action.

When I was in high school, I pined for a fast, cool-looking muscle car to be my first vehicle. At age 16, all I could think about was a convertible Ford Mustang — and I was really determined to buy it. My parents, being the traditional people they were said, “Son, if you want this — you need to work for it — that’s how life goes.”

So, I did what any 16-year-old would do — I decided to find a job at a local golf course as I played quite frequently with friends and thought it would be something I would enjoy. (It was.) Sure enough, I saved up the money and was able to buy the Mustang I wanted so desperately.

But what happened next is what would forever alter the course of my life in a personalized way.

An Internship and a Transformation

While working at the golf course — I also was attending classes at a university, specifically for a degree in marketing and advertising strategy. Part of the course curriculum required me to get an internship; and, well, working at a golf course didn’t quite cut it. I gave my notice and told the owner of the course what was going on and he said, “Justin, we loved having you here and hate to see you go — you know, I also work as a general manager of a medical product distribution company — we could use someone like you this summer.”

Eager to upgrade my Mustang, I accepted and spent the summer learning marketing and advertising within the medical space.

We All Have Our Personalized Journeys

This story is important to set the stage of this article. We all as humans have our own journeys, personalized to what’s important to us. For me, it was a Mustang convertible — my desire to have that car set me off on my own personalized journey and trajectory. I later accepted a full-time position at the above-mentioned medical products company and spent the next 13 years learning and absorbing as much as a I could, which provided me with the path to that I’m still on today.

The same holds true for consumers today who demand experiences built on AI-powered personalization. Consumers want and demand things in their lives, and marketers and advertisers must provide personalized journeys to help them intuitively find what they want, and ultimately — change the trajectories of their lives. But to do so, requires a little help from our computer conscious friends.

Personalization, From the Start

The term personalization is somewhat new, thanks to the vast and wide adoption of technology and AI that allows brands to display products and services that we desire; that being said, personalization has been around for decades and traditionally took on another term, Relationship Marketing.

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) describes “relationship marketing” as “a strategy of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that emphasizes customer retention, satisfaction and lifetime customer value. Its purpose is to market to current customers versus new customer acquisition through sales and advertising.”

This holds true, to a point.

At its core, relationship marketing has really always been around. A customer visits your business, purchases a service or product, consumes that service or product, then hopefully if you as a business gave them an exceptional experience — the cycle will repeat. This of course has been prevalent since businesses have been around — however, relationship marketing also made a massive step forward during the 1990s, thanks to the rise of the internet and email marketing.

By Justin Racine

Sourced from CMSWIRE

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The 4 Marketing Strategies Your Shopify Store Needs to Drive Traffic

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By Eric Netsch

A successful Shopify store is built on a solid marketing strategy. Read on if you want to discover the secrets of Shopify marketing.

After taking the leap into the ecommerce world and launching your Shopify store, you’re probably looking for ways to attract new customers. Even with a great design and solid product offering, standing out in a crowded market can be challenging. Fortunately, you can take several practical strategies and actions to promote and drive traffic to your business. Depending on your needs and goals, these can include anything from social media marketing to paid advertising to email marketing campaigns.

Shopify is currently the leading platform for ecommerce brands, and it powers nearly two million businesses’ online stores. It goes without saying, but competition in the ecommerce world is fierce; retailers looking to remain relevant and stand out need to establish a solid marketing strategy that will actually move the mark.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your business to the next level, it’s essential to prioritize marketing and make it a crucial part of your overall ecommerce strategy. Doing so can lead to increased sales, greater brand recognition and the development of a loyal customer base.

1. Boost your search engine appeal

To draw more traffic and give potential customers the best chance of finding you when they search for similar products, it’s essential to prioritize Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This strategy requires patience, time and ongoing effort, but it’s worth the investment.

There are several key steps to optimizing your Shopify store. These include optimizing your store’s architecture, conducting thorough keyword research to identify relevant keywords for your business, refining your on-page optimization over time and implementing an effective link-building strategy.

Remember that SEO is an ongoing process that requires continuous effort. Fortunately, Shopify offers built-in marketing tools, including SEO optimization features, to help you optimize for search engines. Moreover, you can enhance your SEO efforts and maintain a steady traffic flow by using various third-party SEO tools and Shopify apps.

If you prioritize SEO and take the essential measures to optimize your Shopify store for search engines, you can gradually attract a larger audience, increase your sales and expand your business.

2. Amplify your reach with digital ads

Investing in paid ads is a highly effective strategy, particularly if you’re just starting out or facing challenges in gaining visibility through organic search marketing. Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, like Google Ads, can be an excellent option for driving more traffic to your site as ads appear at the top of search results. In a PPC campaign, you set a maximum bid and only pay when someone clicks on your link. A well-targeted and well-written PPC campaign can immediately bring traffic to your Shopify store. However, it’s worth noting that your competitors and the ads platform determine the amount you pay per visitor, even though you control your overall spending.

Another option for paid advertising is launching campaigns on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, the most common networks for paid advertising. To determine which platform works best for you, conduct different tests and analyse your ad’s performance.

Having attractive visual content and persuasive copywriting that appeals to potential customers is essential to creating successful ads. Be creative! Successful advertising campaigns need that creative appeal to capture the attention of shoppers.

Before launching your ads, consider the most relevant keywords for your business and target your ads to specific audiences to ensure your campaigns are effective. Paid advertising campaigns can inform potential customers about your Shopify brand and retarget previous site visitors, making it an effective tactic for attracting new customers and guiding shoppers back.

3. Utilize influencer marketing

In recent years, influencer marketing has gained immense popularity and has proven to be an effective way to market your Shopify store, especially for brands in the fashion, beauty and CPG industries. In essence, influencer marketing is a partnership between a brand and an influencer, and it is becoming an increasingly popular choice for brands’ marketing budgets. Finding an influencer whose niche audience aligns with your product or brand is crucial to begin with influencer marketing. You must also establish a relationship with the influencer, who will create their own content to help position your brand.

Influencer marketing is highly effective for ecommerce businesses. Seventy-one percent of marketers find that it generates better quality customers and traffic than other sources. Consumers trust influencer recommendations because they create a direct communication channel and leverage the credibility and trust of public figures. In fact, 64% of marketers agree that influencer marketing is an enhanced form of word-of-mouth marketing, which is the most effective form of marketing.

This personalized approach is particularly effective in today’s world, where so many brand choices inundate consumers. Influencer marketing is a highly reliable and direct marketing strategy, as recommendations from real people carry more weight than conventional paid advertisements.

4. Master your customer referral program

Referral programs can be an effective strategy where satisfied customers become brand advocates and receive rewards such as discounts or free products. You can reach a wider audience by incentivizing past customers to recommend your products to their network. This approach is particularly effective because people tend to trust recommendations from friends and family more than advertising. Word-of-mouth marketing is such a powerful tool that it can generate up to five times more sales than traditional paid advertising.

Unlike customer reviews, a referral program involves direct word-of-mouth marketing where people share their positive experiences with your products with those close to them, generating new leads that are highly likely to convert. Several platforms and tools are available to create a customer referral program, such as Talkable, which offers an in-app referral program to help find brand advocates.

To attract new customers to your Shopify store, you can use several strategies to promote your business and drive traffic, such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), paid advertising, influencer marketing and customer referral programs. Implementing these tactics can attract more customers, increase sales and develop a loyal customer base. Remember to be creative and invest time and effort into continuously improving your marketing strategy to stay ahead in the competitive ecommerce industry.

By Eric Netsch

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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Gen Alpha Loves Eating McDonald’s, Watching YouTube and Disney+, and Telling Their Parents What to Buy at the Store

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By Dominick Reuter

With birth years starting in 2013, Generation Alpha is already the most plugged-in generation of children yet, developing some strikingly powerful brand affinities before they reach age 9.

They’re not old enough to open their own checking account or drive to a store, but they are steering some important spending decisions — and companies are taking notice.

With birth years starting in 2013, Generation Alpha is already the most plugged-in generation of children yet, developing some strikingly powerful brand affinities before they reach age 9, according to a recent survey from Morning Consult.

Among the findings: kids love McDonald’s. Like, they’re really lovin’ it.

Thirty-seven percent of Gen Alpha parents said the restaurant with the Golden Arches was their kids’ favourite, six times as many as those who said runner-up Chick-fil-A was their top choice. Morning Consult says these were open-ended, unaided responses — in other words, not chosen from a list.

And while Gen Alpha parents (who are largely millennials) are rather health-conscious adults, 43% still said their kids eat fast food at least once a week.

The other strong favourite in the findings was YouTube: kids watch a lot of YouTube.

Fifty-four percent of Gen Alpha kids own tablets – and they watch a lot of streaming video content, mostly on YouTube, Disney+, and Netflix, the survey found.

What they see online — particularly in unboxing videos and other shopping content — directly influences their retail choices, according to 56% of the parents in the survey.

Still, digital influence is a distant follower to the top driver of Gen Alpha brand and product selection: seeing stuff on store shelves. Nearly three-quarters of kids 4 and under, and 85% of kids 5 to 9, have asked their parents for something they saw during a shopping trip.

“Parents know that one of the best ways to avoid impulse buys is to leave the kids at home, not keep them off digital devices,” the report’s authors write.

The Morning Consult results are consistent with prior research that found companies were spending over $16 billion on marketing to tap into young children’s $286 billion influence on adult spending, according to the 2009 book “Simplicity Parenting” by Kim John Payne.

Payne’s book also highlighted findings that children as young as 2 can recognize brands on shelves and that they have recognition of 300-400 brands by age 10.

“When seeking to connect with Gen Alpha, brands can look to established leaders like McDonald’s and Disney,” the Morning Consult researchers conclude. “Not only does each brand have decades of experience catering to families’ needs, but they’ve also managed to maintain relevance and make a connection with Gen Alpha already.”

This story originally appeared on Business Insider.

Feature Image Credit: Valera Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

By Dominick Reuter

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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‘Mini gold rush’: How ad buyers are handling video podcast inventory

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By Sara Guaglione

As publishers’ podcast executives ramp up their experimentation with accompanying video, podcast ad buyers are starting to have more conversations about what opportunities this format can provide to brands — and which investment teams handle the buys, according to four agency executives who spoke with Digiday.

“I think that you’re seeing a little mini gold rush here that people are responding to. Word got out that people actually like consuming podcasts… on YouTube and now the marketplace is reorganizing around that,” said Dan Granger, CEO of audio ad agency Oxford Road.

Molly Schultz, svp of integrated investment at UM, said she’s recently had more discussions with publishers about video podcast opportunities. These types of conversations started picking up in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Adam Arnegger, managing partner and executive investment director at Wavemaker US.

With the recent fervour around video podcasts, ad buyers discussed the advertising opportunities for brands in video podcasts and how they are organizing their investment teams to manage the crossover from audio to video.

Audio teams handling video ads

Despite the fact that technically ads in video podcasts are in digital video, audio investment teams at ad agencies are continuing to handle the media plans. That’s because video podcast ads are typically tied to audio podcast ad deals, agency execs said.

“If you have a show that has 100,000 impressions and 50,000 are on YouTube and 50,000 are audio, we’ll take the 100,000 impressions that include that video because we’re going to see that [see and say] effect have a larger impact on ad response. So the units are valuable and we don’t need to artificially limit ourselves on the definition of a podcast,” Granger said. “It probably should be a both-and model.”

At Wavemaker, pitches are going to the audio investment team and then brought over to the video team.

“We’re still in the process of figuring out where this lives,” Arnegger said. “We’re handling it from the core, which is audio and then we’ll start to evolve that as … part of our video buying consumption.”

However, this won’t happen until video podcasts become “more mainstream” and more of their podcast partners start to produce them, he said. “It is something that we are looking at and considering for each and every one of our clients now,” Arnegger said.

UM has integrated investment teams that oversee all channels, so there’s no delineation there, Schultz said.

Video podcasts can also help advertisers that are “still hesitant when it comes to believing audio can be enough on its own” to “feel more comfortable that they’re able to get the full sight, sound and motion,” she said.

However, cross-device attribution is not possible through a platform like YouTube, Maria Tullin, vp and managing director of advanced and digital audio at Horizon Media, noted in an email — meaning it’s difficult to track a podcast listener on a mobile device to a desktop viewer on the platform.

“For clients that are measuring success across upper funnel KPIs, I think it’s a great opportunity to come up with creative ideas, brand integrations and larger sponsorship opportunities,” Tullin said. But for lower funnel clients focused on cost per action, customer acquisition cost or return on advertising spend, “it can be a harder sell,” she said.

A Twitch model?

The typical video podcast ad format is similar to the backbone of podcast audio advertising: personal endorsements, agency execs said.

Video “opens up a lot of branding opportunities” like unboxings, product placement and brand logos, Tullin said. It can also be as simple as having a Coke can on the table near a podcast host during a recording of an interview show, Granger said.

Schultz likened it to the way advertisers sponsor content on the livestream platform Twitch. “It’s a different format and content, but sort of similar in the fact that there is a personality who’s hosting the content, which gives you more opportunity to weave the brand in,” she said.

Pre-roll and mid-roll ads on a video platform like YouTube are “table stakes” and add further “frequency” for the more integrated advertising opportunities in video podcasts, she added. “Because there is a host and because it has roots in podcasts, we would be interested in how we can… work ourselves into the content itself,” Schultz said.

Bleacher Report sells sponsorships for its live-streamed podcast recordings of shows like “The Voncast” and “Taylor X” aired on its B/R app, said Tyler Price, vp of content development and production at Bleacher Report. The resulting video assets are then distributed on social media and YouTube, where — depending on the commitment level of the advertiser — they can monetize the video with standard ads. State Farm and Chase have sponsored B/R’s podcast livestreams, Price said.

“If you don’t have a video asset attached to your audio format now, you’re leaving audience on the table and you’re leaving money on the table,” Price said.

By Sara Guaglione

Sourced from DIGIDAY

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Meta gives up on NFTs for Facebook and Instagram

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By Jay Peters

Meta is moving on from more crypto projects, even though NFTs / digital collectibles were once pitched as part of its ‘metaverse’ future.

Meta is “winding down” its work with NFTs on Facebook and Instagram, Meta commerce and fintech lead Stephane Kasriel said in a Twitter thread on Monday. The decision means Meta will end its tests of minting and selling NFTs on Instagram as well as the ability to share NFTs on Instagram and Facebook in the coming weeks, Meta spokesperson Joshua Gunter confirmed in an email to The Verge.

“Across the company, we’re looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus,” Kasriel said. “We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.” Instead, the company is focusing on “areas where we can make impact at scale,” like messaging and monetization on Reels and on improving Meta Pay.

The NFT integrations seem to be one casualty of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s drive to make 2023 the “year of efficiency,” along with the Reels Play bonus program. But their end also follows the shutdowns of the Meta-backed cryptocurrency Diem and Meta’s Novi digital wallet last year.

Still, even as Meta exits NFTs, other companies are rushing into a market that collapsed in 2022 and shed billions in value after stratospheric levels of hype in early 2021. Reddit continues to promote its “digital collectible” avatars that are NFTs, Starbucks recently sold out a selection of 2,000 $100 NFTs in its Odyssey customer loyalty program, and Sesame Street just announced an NFT collaboration.

Feature Image Credit: Nick Barclay / The Verge

By Jay Peters

Sourced from The Verge

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The blog audit basics: how to revive old blog content in 5 steps

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By Michelle Hill 

In this five-step guide, Michelle Hill of Vertical Leap reveals how to rejuvenate old, forgotten-about content that might be harming your search ranking.

Marketers face a lot of pressure to constantly publish new content. While it’s important to post regular, up-to-date content, you can’t forget about old pages once you hit publish.

Without proper maintenance, your blog quickly becomes bloated and relevance starts to suffer. To prevent this from damaging your SEO strategy, you should run an annual blog audit to review your content.

Why are blog audits important?

Old, out-of-date content results in fewer page visits, less average time spent on page and declining performance – all of which negatively affect your ranking in search engine result pages (SERPs).

The problem will only get worse over time as search engines like Google roll out new algorithm updates and ranking signals that your old content isn’t optimized for.

An annual audit allows you to review your blog content, keep getting value from your old content and send the right signals to Google. It also keeps you topically focused and turns your old content into an asset, rather than a liability.

1. Analyze your content

First, you want to analyze your content by collecting data on every post you’ve published. How much data you analyze will probably depend on the tools you’re using but, at the very least, you want to review the following: title, URL, topic/category, keywords, publishing date, word count, author and monthly visits.

For a more in-depth audit, you can also pull in engagement data (time on page, bounce rates, etc.) and usability insights like Core Web Vitals.

2. Review SEO keywords

Essentially, you want one blog post for each of your most important keywords, which you can keep updating and adding to. In other words, avoid having multiple pages compete for the same keyword because this splits your search ranking across each page. Instead, you want one high-quality page reaping all the SEO benefits.

Your audit will probably reveal multiple pages targeting the same keyword. This isn’t a problem so long as you review your content – and act on it. Once you have evergreen pages for your priority keywords, you can build content clusters around related keywords and sub-topics to maximize coverage.

3. Keep, combine, kill

Now you’re ready to start cleaning up your blog. We have our own tried and tested process that groups posts into three categories.

Keep content that is adding value to users and your SEO strategy. We can further optimize this by establishing expertise, authority and trust (key Google signals) and improving the content structure. Updating stats and sources, and adding videos and new sections can also improve the page.

Combine content covering the same keyword or topic (splitting your SEO rewards). This will attract more traffic to your site through better rankings as a result of improved pages and will lead to increased conversions through more authoritative and engaging content. It also reduces keyword cannibalization.

Kill low-quality content, poor engagement, generating no traffic, etc. For example, content that has no target audience and does not serve the user’s purpose is poorly written, off-topic, syndicated or potentially stolen/plagiarized. The same goes for any content that has poor performance metrics such as low/no organic page views, impressions, links, shares, conversions or engagements, or has a high bounce rate.

You want to remove all of the content in the ‘Kill’ category because these pages are causing more harm than good. For the ‘Combine’ section, you’re going to group all the related posts together and then merge them into a single, high-performing page. Once you’ve combined these pages, they’ll rank higher and generate more traffic.

4. Refresh old content

Now that all your blog posts are arranged to target specific keywords and topics, you’re ready to update and improve the quality of your content.

First, make sure all your posts are up to date with the latest information. Add recent statistics and insights with links to authoritative sources to back up the key message of your content. Also, add quality images with optimized alt-text and embed relevant video clips where suitable.

Next, revise the structure of your posts to ensure they’re optimized for readers and search engines. You should end up with a consistent structure across all your posts with optimized titles, headings and keywords.

5. Optimize for the latest SEO updates

The SEO industry moves quickly. In the past year alone, we’ve had plenty of algorithm updates to contend with and Google has also updated its content quality guidelines for experience, expertise, authority and trust (E-E-A-T).

In recent years, we’ve also had page experience updates, Core Web Vitals, product review updates, and many others.

With every content audit, you need to optimize for any relevant updates, guideline changes and new ranking signals. Right now, optimizing for E-E-A-T is a priority and you need to build trust by demonstrating experience, expertise and authority for all the subjects you cover.

As you merge and update your old content, make sure you satisfy the latest Google quality rater guidelines.

Feature Image Credit: Natalya Letunova

By Michelle Hill 

Sourced from The Drum

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How Curiosity Will Strengthen Your Brand Leadership

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By Kevin Perlmutter

I’m curious, what’s better, an ok solution that is developed quickly, or a great solution that takes longer?

I was in a pitch meeting recently where a potential client told me that another group came into the room with compelling brand ideas. They wanted to know if I had any ideas to share. Instead, I asked questions.

I was curious about how they got to those ideas. Did they already study the brand and unearth consumer insights? Did they do strategy work on spec? Were they making educated guesses based on industry trends and competitive observations without yet speaking with the client team or the brand’s consumers? Were they charging for strategy after they pitched the answer, or to confirm what they already came up with?

I said, “Well, I don’t have the answers yet, and I won’t be making any guesses to try and win the project.” I promised them that if we work together, they will not hear any strategy recommendations until after I ask a lot of questions and the discovery phase of work is complete. As it turns out, that brand leader was more interested in shiny objects and fast answers. I did not get the work, nor did I want it after that meeting.

The value of curiosity

Albert Einstein once said, “Curiosity is more important than knowledge.” Do you agree? He also claimed to have no special talents, and that he was just passionately curious.

Curiosity is not a step in the process that should be shortcut. It’s a vital component of strategy, and strategy is not a box to check just so that the creative team can get started.

I recognize that typical brand strategy often makes many of us feel overwhelmed with information that’s not always helpful. I’ve been told by brand leaders that typical brand strategy sometimes feels like the strategists selling their ideas based on their experience, gut instinct, and observations, as opposed to deep curiosity, reserved judgment, and insight-rich revelations shared in compelling narratives that get everyone inspired.

The value of curiosity is a broader perspective, a deeper understanding, and the opportunity to develop more effective paths forward. Strategy is often described as a plan of action designed to achieve an objective, with varying levels of uncertainty. Curiosity is at the foundation of developing the most effective strategies. Ongoing, curiosity can help you go beyond the status quo into new areas of thought and action and evolve in relevant ways over time as new insights emerge.

3 ways curiosity will strengthen your brand leadership

 1. Avoid confirmation bias

Companies are entrenched in knowledge, and that often comes with inherent biases and preconceived instincts. The status quo is, if nothing else, predictable, but it’s often built on layers and layers of confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias is a tendency people have that is opposite of curiosity and it closes more doors than it opens. Think about how you interpret information from social media or the news. If you’re like most people, you view information that you agree with as support for your point of view, and you dismiss information that is contrary to your point of view. This happens to all of us, and it takes a disciplined approach to break free of this inherent behaviour.

Once we recognize that we are most likely reverting to confirmation bias, we can then take a step back to challenge long-held assumptions. Curiosity is the cure for confirmation bias. Why are we doing things this way? Is there current data to back up this assumption? Are there new and better ways to move forward

2. Gain deeper understanding

Typical brand strategy often relies on surface-level consumer understanding and is devoid of deep psychographic understanding of what people need, want, and desire. One of the most challenging things to learn about are people’s true feelings and unarticulated needs. When it comes to sharing feelings, social conformity bias often gets in the way. It’s another behavioural tendency that humans have, to adapt what we say and how we behave based on how we want to be perceived. It’s why not asking the right questions in the right way or using the wrong research techniques can lead to unreliable information.

One-on-one interviews are a fantastic and easy way to gain deeper understanding, especially when the questions are designed to evoke illustrative answers.

Some of my favourite questions to ask brand leaders include:

  • What’s the most gratifying customer feedback you’ve heard?
  • If there was one thing that you could improve about the customer experience, what would it be?
  • What are 3 words to describe how you want people to feel after interacting with your brand?

Some of my favourite questions to ask a brand’s consumers include:

  • What is the best thing that this brand does for you?
  • What have been the biggest surprises when interacting with this brand?
  • What are 3 words to describe how it makes you feel using this brand’s products or services?

Another way to gain reliable information and deeper understanding is by using metaphor elicitation, a quantitative approach I’ve used in collaboration with a behavioural science research company. This methodology gets people to open up, first by having them select an image that conveys their feelings and/or desires on a topic, and then asking them to explain why they selected the image. By using this two-step approach, respondents are not over-rationalizing the situation or sharing guarded answers. They are emoting feelings and ideas that reveal deeper understanding and give fodder for how the experience affects their life or can be improved beyond what they would say if asked overtly. In some cases, this can be the right curiosity tool for the job.

3. Spark inspiration and alignment

Ultimately, curiosity is about bringing people together. People in organizations want to feel valued and that their opinion matters. Everyone in the organization has perspective, whether it’s the CEO, the sales representative, or the customer support person. Data is everywhere and insights are waiting to be found.

As brand leaders know, our work is not just about selling the big ideas. It’s not about arts and crafts. It’s not about having big rah-rah sessions and launches. Brand leadership is about developing strategies and activations that strengthen an organization’s ability to achieve business objectives.

The most successful brand leaders are inherently curious. They are curious about what matters most to people within their company. They are curious about what matters most to consumers. They are skilled at connecting the dots to envision new possibilities, and a new foundation for moving forward that brings these two sets of motivations together. Most importantly, their curiosity, and understanding of various perspectives, enables them to spark inspiration and alignment so that everyone is energized about moving forward in the same direction.

It’s time to be curious

My instinct is to move fast. I’m a solver, but I’ve learned the value of slowing down, being curious, connecting the dots, and inspiring people with compelling narratives that they feel a part of. Here’s what’s so genius about Einstein’s reliance on curiosity: Obvious ideas are typically not unique ideas. Big decisions based on old perspectives & old data are a big risk.

The best way to create strong consumer connections that drive growth is to deeply understand and address what people care most about. The most successful brand leaders recognize that curiosity, and asking the right questions, is far more important than having fast answers. Aren’t you curious about what being more curious can do for you?

Feature Image Credit: Artem

By Kevin Perlmutter

Kevin Perlmutter is chief strategist & founder of Limbic Brand Evolution – a brand strategy and neuromarketing consultancy. He loves to work with CMOs, brand and business leaders who have set out to make people’s lives better – helping them create stronger connections between their brand and the people who they want to reach. He’s created the Limbic Sparks® approach to brand strategy, and turns emotional insight into a competitive advantage to more effectively evolve brand strategy, messaging, offerings, and experiences that deepen brand engagement and loyalty. Prior, Kevin led strategy, innovation, and research at a sonic branding studio where he created an award-winning neuroscience research capability to assess the subconscious impact of stimulus on emotion, brand, and behavior. Earlier at Interbrand, he led client strategy and identity evolution, and created Interbrand’s customer experience practice. Kevin is a frequent writer and speaker.

Sourced from Brandingmag

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