editor, Author at Mediastreet

In News

Smart And Sustainable Print Marketing: PFL

August 20, 2021 No Comments

If you’re anything like me, you’re annoyed by the amount of daily physical mail, as much of it feels wasteful of time and resources. That’s doubly true for mass marketing material that has no bearing on my interests or spending habits, all of which ends up directly deposited into the recycling bin.

So, I was a bit sceptical to speak with Andrew Field, Founder and CEO of PFL, a Montana-based firm working in the space of print marketing. To Andrew’s credit, his company’s model aims to be less wasteful both in its targeting and its use of recycled materials and sustainable energy. Perhaps most interesting was learning about how his company has navigated the digital era as a print marketing company, and succeeded at a time when most assumed print to be dead.

Mary Juetten: When did you start?

Andrew Field: I cofounded the company in 1996. The idea for PFL came to me while I was fly-fishing on the Yellowstone River with a friend. At first, we were a six-person print shop dedicated to small businesses who needed access to affordable printing without compromising quality.

As the internet and ecommerce rose to the ubiquity we know today, I realized more businesses were turning to the internet for products and services. So, in 1999, we launched the first U.S. ecommerce site for full-line commercial printing. For much of the early 2000s, the business was focused on printing for small and medium businesses (SMBs) across the country.

With the rise of SaaS, I saw an opportunity to make direct mail part of marketing automation – as easy as building in an email as part of the customer journey. So in 2014, we created another category, Tactile Marketing Automation.

Juetten: What problem are you solving?

Field: Businesses need a way to cut through digital clutter and make lasting impressions with prospects and customers. Direct mail does this in a way that digital marketing just can’t. Our 2020 Multichannel Marketing Report (in conjunction with Demand Metric) found multichannel campaigns including direct mail report an 18 percent higher ROI than those without direct mail, and 84 percent of respondents indicate direct mail improves multichannel campaign performance.

We create a smarter way for organizations to incorporate direct mail as an intentional part of the customer journey versus batching and blasting. Our solution works with existing CRMs and marketing automation platforms like Salesforce, Oracle or Marketo and enables marketers to send personalized, targeted, and trackable collateral to create a memorable and engaging experience for the customer.

Juetten: Who are your customers and how do you find them?

Field: Our ideal customer cares about branding, security, scalability and ROI. We have a wide range of customers from enterprise SaaS to higher education, financial services, healthcare and retail. We practice account-based marketing and use our own solution, Tactile Marketing Automation, to build relationships with our ideal customers. We delight our customers with relevant brand experiences, and then show them how they can do the same to get the attention of their audience. Also, as the category creator and leader, many customers find us through word of mouth.

Juetten: Did you raise money?

Field: Yes. In 2018, we secured $25 million in growth capital from Goldman Sachs Growth Equity. The funds support R&D, product development, and sales team growth for our TMA platform.

Juetten: Direct mail can be perceived as wasteful to some. What’s your response to this?

Field: The way we enable direct mail isn’t just batching and blasting. It is targeted, and actually reduces waste.

For example, let’s say Company A is hosting a webinar and Customer X attended webinars in the past and signed up to attend the upcoming webinar. Company A could send Customer X related content and a snack to enjoy while watching the webinar.

Here’s another example in the nonprofit world. If a past donor opens an email or visits the homepage of a nonprofit’s website, and hasn’t donated this past year, TMA could trigger a piece of direct mail to spur the individual to donate.

This way, organizations leverage the power of direct mail but in a more intentional, less wasteful way.

Speaking of the environment, our manufacturing facility and processes are green. PFL is wind-powered, and we use soy-based inks, and minimal VOCs.

Juetten: Who is on your team?

Field: I’m proud to work with a top-notch team. It includes a very experienced senior team, the usual roles in a SaaS company like sales, marketing, software development, etc. Unlike other SaaS companies, our team also includes a large contingent of people in manufacturing and fulfillment, working 24×7.

Juetten: Any tips to add for early-stage founders or CEOs in growth mode?

Field: Get processes ironed out before you rapidly increase headcount in any given area. Then, hit the gas!

Juetten: What’s the long-term vision for your company?

Field: To help millions of marketers around the world market more effectively, and eventually to take the company public.

Thanks to Andrew for providing insight into how his business works. Ironically, we received a direct mail advertisement from a family owned moving company when we listed a property for sale and we are actually now hiring them. There is something to be said for differentiating yourself in a world of overwhelming marketing emails that are placed in the digital recycling bin (unsubscribe), and PFL’s success speaks for itself. #onwards.

Feature Image Credit: Technician worker operator works on large premium industrial printer and plotter machine in digital. GETTY

By Mary Juetten

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

I am the founder and CEO of Traklight, the only self-guided software platform that creates your custom intellectual property (IP) strategy and assesses business risk. I dedicated my more-than-30-year career to helping businesses achieve and protect their success, specializing in transition or start-up phases and helping companies create sustainable financial growth.

Sourced from Forbes

In Uncategorized

Study: Publishers See Global Economy As Biggest Future Challenge

August 20, 2021 No Comments

By Ray Schultz

Publishers rate the global economy, not the decline of display advertising, as their biggest future threat, according to “The Future of Publishing,” a study by Akamai.

Rated on a scale of one to 10, publishing executives see these issues as the biggest challenges to their success going forward:

Global recession/depression—7.3

Continued dominance of tech platforms in advertising—6.9

Competition from the media companies—5.2

Collapse of market for display ads—4.9

Competition from VC-funded start-ups that can lose money—3.7

In addition, using the same rating scale, they see data as their biggest revenue opportunity, based on a small number of write-ins:

Data—8.5

Events—7.9

Digital subscriptions or membership models—7.6

Branded content or ad creation (studio models)—7.4

Digital commerce affiliate deals—6.7

Video advertising (pre-roll, outstream)—6.3

Podcasts—6.2

Direct digital commerce—5.3

The study does not describe its methodology except to say that it is based on a qualitative survey of publishing executives. It is not clear if the survey can be applied to the entire publishing universe.

That said, here is how they see the display advertising market over the next two to three years relative to its pre-COVID-19 position. The respondents expect it to:

Significantly improve—7%

Slightly improve—20%

Stay about the same—12%

Slightly deteriorate—52%

Significantly deteriorate—7%

However, they have a much more optimistic outlook about their own advertising revenue compared to the overall industry. They say it will:

Significantly improve—44%

Slightly improve—50%

Stay about the same—6%

Slightly deteriorate—0%

Significantly deteriorate—0%

In terms of future revenue models, they agree with the following, one a scale of 0 (disagree) to 1 (agree):

For most consumer publishers, a hybrid model involving ads, ad-lite, and subscriptions is likely to be the optimal strategy—0.97

Digital subscription services will only work for a small number of content verticals (e.g.,, business, finance, politics)—0.47

Digital advertising will steadily decline as a source of income for most consumer publishers during the 2020s—0.41

Multi-title aggregators like Apple News+ will be a major new source of revenue for consumers in the 2020s—0.30

By Ray Schultz

Sourced from MediaPost

In News

5 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Location Data

August 20, 2021 No Comments

By Sarah Sluis

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.

Today’s column is written by Darren Goldie, CEO/Founder, Locationify.

Prior to the digital revolution, location data was explicit – it referred to fixed physical stores.

Today, location data matters because people check their phones before they walk into a store, as evidenced by 200% annual growth in “where to buy” and “near me” mobile queries since 2017 (Think with Google, 2019). Since the pandemic, growth in these location-focused queries spiked to 700%. This spike is on the back of surging “local” demand for local transport, local car valeting and an array of home services. On Amazon, 58% of total sales were by small and medium-sized businesses across the 1.9 million US businesses using Amazon as a marketplace (oom.com, 2021).

Here are some tips to help you transform to both customer-centric business and location-focused business.

Research customer intent by location. Location data is transforming how businesses understand “local intent” data across hundreds of consumer touch points. Whether you are B2B, B2C or increasingly a B2B2C company, your business is generally successful because it serves or creates a demand. However, a quick look behind the scenes will often reveal a treasure trove of varying, local customer demand patterns that can significantly enhance marketing effectiveness. Adjusting your marketing by location in response to this shifting demand will give you a differentiator when driving overall sales. Since 2019, we have known that 46% of shoppers surveyed confirm inventory online before going to a store (HubSpot Marketing statistics, 2021), but how many marketers can claim they use this intelligence at the product level to vary their location marketing efforts?
Customize the content journey by location. Whether an audience lives in a fast-growing city, an established town, near a shopping mall or somewhere in the countryside, they value local information or recommendations when making local purchase decisions. Even if the product is bought online, local product visibility, local customer service and local reviews can be a driving force behind online purchases compared to data that doesn’t take location into account.
Plan privacy compliance by location. Location data grapples with two fundamental challenges: privacy and proving the value of data collection to consumers. Although obviously linked, privacy primarily concerns how location data is used, which is increasingly based around consent. Value concerns how consumers proactively share location data with third parties to improve their lives, from hailing a cab to accessing local product offers. By thinking in a location-first manner, businesses can adjust their privacy management at the state level. This means they can take advantage of the different legislation adoption rates across the country to deal with the continual flow of non-fixed, continuous mobile data.
Vary “near me” shopping and “service centre” visibility by location. The biggest platforms – Google, Facebook and Amazon – are investing in building out their location-based ad services, so savvy marketers should, too. By connecting Google My Business with local inventory ads, for example, businesses can quickly establish a location-first strategy and evaluate the opportunities for varying their marketing by location.
Vary SEO tactics by location. In addition to optimizing your presence on directories, companies should rethink location-first prioritization within their SEO strategies. Local SEO has been popular for some time, but using the insights generated from local SEO, then connecting those insights with cross-channel paid strategies, is only now starting to emerge.

Previously, companies would focus on optimizing their first-level domain within Google organic search. As competition increases, audience conversion rates at different locations for different products and services are higher, causing brands to rethink their local strategy. By connecting local inventory, consumer demand insights and localizing offers, companies can generate immediate incremental revenue from sub-domains or pages by location.

Marketing customization based on location data challenges the one-size-fits-all marketing approach widely used across the industry. From local stock availability to locally focused offers and promotion, thinking “location-first” increases relevancy and improves the customer experience.

Of course, audience targeting will continue to remain the priority for many marketers, but location data is quickly becoming the most important driver after product and price for advertisers. As programmatic and content marketing continue to rise in popularity and new channels such as CTV, internet of things and audio devices become addressable, marketers will be overwhelmed with options for reaching audiences.

Local-first thinking will help simplify this challenge, unlock more consumer revenue and increase brand visibility across the different locations that matter most for driving business growth.

Follow AdExchanger (@adexchanger) on Twitter.

By Sarah Sluis

Sourced from adexchanger

In News

Unlocking the virtual reality for the in-store shopping experience of the future

August 19, 2021 No Comments

By Stefano Hatfield

As brands and consumers seek a return to the physical retail space post Covid-19, the technology that has enabled ecommerce to fill the gap as stores were closed will play a vital role in the recovery of that same bricks-and-mortar retail. Shoppers, particularly in the UK, want a “connected shopping” experience.

The pandemic has obviously hit the UK high street, but shoppers are ready to return, particularly if the ease of online shopping is blended with the richness of the in-store experience. Some 40% of UK shoppers use their mobile in-store to look up more information on a product. And there is a huge increase (80%) among Gen X shoppers who say they will use augmented reality (AR) in shopping over the next five years.

These are the headline findings of a new report, ‘Future of Shopping’, based on a global survey of 20,000 shoppers by trends agency Foresight Factory, for Snap Inc. Technology, rather than sounding the death knell for bricks-and-mortar retail, has led to an irreversible shift to omnichannel that genuinely benefits both shoppers and retailers.

As we have seen over the past 18 months, when new technologies are built primarily around human behaviour, rather than imposed because of internal business needs, their impact can be positive. Yes, online shopping has disrupted bricks-and-mortar retail over the past two decades. However, technology has also helped retailers navigate the increasing overlap between online and physical environments, now a part of our lived experience.

The report reveals that consumers worldwide feel their shopping experience has been greatly enhanced by camera technology and accompanying digital innovations. It is clear that shoppers are keen to get back into stores, but they also want to keep all the advantages of technology when they return; for example, instant access to stock information or home delivery service.

Britons seem more wedded to online shopping, particularly for clothes, than others. Some 44% plan to do the majority of clothes shopping online, above the global average of 38%. Only 34% of Brits said buying in-store was their favoured method of shopping – compared with 43% globally. But nearly half (49%) of Brits missed the social aspect of shopping and more than half (51%) found the inability to try on products frustrating.

This desire to blend online and in-store highlights how vital the mobile phone has become across the shopper journey and explains why the new consumer habits forged in the pandemic are here to stay. However, consumers have missed the social component of physical shopping, so e-commerce advertisers need to greater humanize their brands online.

The report identified several other key takeaways:

Growth in e-commerce during Covid-19 will be sustained

81% of UK shoppers are expecting to do the same amount or more online shopping in the next 12 months compared to last year, with only 19% indicating they plan to do less.

A post-lockdown return to physical retail

Shoppers returning to store post-lockdown will seek the social and tactile experiences they have missed in the last year, albeit combined with the convenience and safety of shopping online. But bricks and mortar stores must act fast to ensure they do not lag behind shopper expectations.

Technology will drive shoppers into stores

Some 35% of global consumers would visit a store specifically if it had interactive virtual services such as a smart mirror that allowed them to try on clothes or makeup.

Mobile will connect brands and consumers across the shopper journey

One in three global consumers choose the mobile phone as their preferred shopping channel, and 50% of Generation Z and millennials say they never go shopping without using one. These trends will only continue, not least in the area of price comparison.

Virtual testing could accelerate e-commerce further

Some four in 10 consumers globally state that not being able to see, touch, and try out products puts them off online shopping. Retailers will therefore need to invest heavily in try-before-you-buy technology to help encourage purchase and reduce the potential need for returns, by enabling consumers to more tangibly engage with products.

Shoppers will demand widespread AR

Within five years we will see a 57% increase in Gen Z shoppers who use AR before buying. Significantly, 56% of consumers who have used AR when shopping claim it encouraged them to make a purchase. The mobile phone will be the core tool.

New technology could reduce the number of online items that are returned annually by up to 42%. The study estimates that the cost of online returns now amounts to around $7.5 billion each year – and £377m in the UK alone.

Resale platforms cement their position as a credible alternative

Four in 10 consumers globally have bought and sold something via resale platforms, which attract shoppers searching for cheaper prices and unique products. Second-hand goods no longer come with stigma, but are a more desirable, sustainable alternative. Retailers like Levi’s, Ikea and H&M are moving into the branded resale space.

The key trends identified above talk to the blurring of consumer needs and expectations across physical and digital shopping channels. They reflect shoppers’ primary demands (beyond pricing): convenience, social interaction and product testing.

Ed Couchman, general manager, UK, Nordics and DACH, at Snap Inc. says: “People thought the internet and technology was a threat to physical retail but this report clearly shows that those who harness the benefits of tech are best placed to thrive post pandemic. Shoppers want to read reviews, compare prices and try on items using AR – but they also enjoy the experience of going into a shop, speaking to staff, and looking at items. They want the best of both worlds.”

The ‘Future of Shopping: Global Report 2021’ from Snap is available here

By Stefano Hatfield

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Google is quietly meeting with a select group of publishers each month to talk Privacy Sandbox tech

August 19, 2021 No Comments

By Kate Kaye

Google engineers and staff on its ads and Chrome teams have a new monthly meeting on their calendars — with digital publishers.

Representatives from around 20 publishers, many from large Comscore 50 media properties, have convened monthly since March with Google ads and Chrome execs and engineers to conduct focused conversations about technologies Google is developing as part of its Privacy Sandbox initiative.

In general, though some publishers have shown interest in testing Google’s emerging tech, many of them have believed the platform’s timeline for development and implementation of it has been “too aggressive,” said Rob Beeler, the de facto leader of the fledgling publisher collective and founder of Beeler.Tech, who helps publishers navigate the complex world of ad tech.

“It’s been clear in these meetings that publishers have had a lot of things to answer before they were on board with any of these solutions,” he told Digiday.

Publishers have in many ways been left out of Google’s efforts to redesign how digital ads work without third-party cookies. This is despite the fact that they produce and distribute the content that comprises the open web, which Google and others say they aim to preserve when the great shift away from today’s tracking technologies goes into effect. Now, the regular meetings between a small group of top-tier publishing execs and Googlers are intended to give publishers a louder voice in the discussion.

Neither Google nor Beeler would name publishers involved and two group participants Digiday spoke with for this story asked not to be named. Google and the publisher participants have made a point of keeping the meetings hush-hush, in part because none wants to alienate smaller publishers who might feel left out of a process that already has most of them feeling sidelined. Beeler said participants of the new group were selected because they are “in a position to have some influence as things get rolled out.” He also said meetings with a larger group of people might become too unwieldy to be productive.

“We are committed to open dialogue with publishers of all sizes as they develop strategies for the transition to a more privacy-centric web,” said a Google spokesperson. “We take every opportunity to engage with publishers and to listen, share information and solicit feedback on how we can build for a better future.”

A more accessible forum than the wonky W3C

Many industry players criticize Google for wielding too much power in the transition away from third-party cookies and development of new tech intended to replace them in a more privacy-preserving way. The aspects of that work that Google has made public have happened inside the W3C, or Worldwide Web Consortium. The international web standards body serves as host for engineers from companies including Google, Facebook and other ad tech firms hashing out complex elements of Privacy Sandbox tech development through jargon-laden web forums.

Although some bigger publishers such as The New York Times and Hearst have dispatched staff to W3C meetings and forums, many publishers find the environment an impenetrable labyrinth, keeping them away despite handwringing over how the tech developed by W3C participants will affect their businesses.

“The W3C is very technical,” said a participant of the recently-formed publisher group who represents smaller media outlets and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Rather than circumventing the W3C process, insiders said Google’s recent monthly meetings with publishers (which, of course, take place on Google Meet) are intended to provide a more accessible setting for publishing execs to learn about what’s in development, voice concerns and perhaps eventually acclimate to the idea of having their own representatives play more active roles in Privacy Sandbox efforts at the W3C.

Google itself has lamented a lack of engagement from publishers in its Privacy Sandbox development. Chetna Bindra, Google’s group product manager in user privacy and trust in its Ads division, told this reporter for The Drum in November 2020 the company was “hoping for more participation” from publishers “as we come up with a workable solution for everyone that is privacy-forward.”

What’s on the agenda — and what isn’t

Thus far, meetings have entailed discussions of technologies such as FLoC — Google’s recently-tested but evolving cookieless ad targeting method and how it might affect publishers, for instance in relation to creating inventory packages. First-party sets — which would affect how domains owned by the same publisher are defined in context of data collection and use via web browsers like Google Chrome — were a topic on the agenda at the July meeting. But the first half-hour was devoted to discussion of Google’s morphing timeline for rollout of Privacy Sandbox tech.

“A lot of these conversations are just like level-setting,” said the unnamed smaller publisher representative.

Beeler, who also helps run a similar recently-formed group of EU-based publishers meeting with Google to discuss the same sorts of issues, said he and other publisher reps help determine the meeting agendas.

Still, some topics that could have significant impacts for publishers continue to be relegated to engineer-centric spaces. For instance, participants in the new meetups said changes to FLoC which Google is mulling and were recently presented at an engineering research event have yet to make the publisher meeting agenda.

“It always amazes me how these things get reported in random tweets, blog posts or non-endemic conferences like an engineering research event,” said another exec participating in the new publisher meetings with Google who asked not to be named.

Correction: This story originally incorrectly reported that Chetna Bindra leads Google’s product development for third-party cookie replacement in its Chrome browser division.

Feature Image Credit: Ivy Liu

By Kate Kaye

Sourced from DIGIDAY

In News

4 Things You Need (and One You Don’t) to Form Your Brand’s Digital Identity

August 19, 2021 No Comments

By Christopher Tompkins

This is your essential shortlist of must-haves to form your brand’s digital identity.

The first thing you should do when you begin a new business enterprise is create your company’s digital identity. Essentially, think about all the places where you will want your future marketing campaigns to lead customers: your website, your Google Business listing and your social media. You’ll need to create all of these platforms before you start considering a marketing campaign.

So, to get started, here’s a shortlist of must-haves to set up before bringing on a marketing team. Look at it like a digital package that’s in your hands to complete. Here are the essentials.

Build your website first

Before spreading out across the internet, establish your home base first. Build your website and make sure it’s free of bugs and fully operational before you start sending people to it.

Your website is going to be the conversion point for your products or services. Everything that we touch on after this point is going to be a pathway back to it, so your site really is the most critical aspect of your brand identity.

Some important considerations of a good website include:

Make sure you have a clear and easy to spell domain name
Make sure your domain name is the name of your company if that real estate isn’t already claimed.
Make sure your website hosting is secure and scalable for when it’s time to expand things — for this, I would recommend a dedicated server hosting plan. It’s the more expensive option but you’re getting what you pay for.

Finally, make sure that you have a good grasp on SEO and incorporate all relevant keywords into your site to maximize traffic opportunities. Perform thorough keyword research to anticipate what kind of phrases your customers might be searching for to find the products or services that you provide, and include as many as you possibly can.

Claim your territory on all social media channels

Even if you don’t think your brand will have any use for a Facebook account, claim one anyway. Consistency is key in branding — you have to have a uniform handle across all social media if you can.

Having @mybrand claimed on all social media channels is just safeguarding yourself for the future. First off, it’s just more customer-friendly than having @mybrand on Twitter, @mybrandUS on Instagram, and @therealmybrand on TikTok. Secondly, getting control of your handles across social media will prevent potential interference from competitors who might claim the handle otherwise.

Pay attention to how social media evolves. If a new platform pops up, take five minutes to create a profile and stake your territory.

List your business on Google and everywhere else

Type in the name of a business you frequent into Google or type in the name of a competitor. What should pop up first is their Google My Business listing that will tell you what the company does, where to find them, their contact information, and an aggregate of reviews.

Because of Google’s supremacy over other search engines, this will be the first and last stop for most people trying to look up your business. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t list your business everywhere you can, though. Much like with social media, the main purpose behind this is to claim this spot before a malicious competitor or similarly named business might.

Test out a few email platforms

Email marketing builds credibility, a customer base and content. In short, you need to look into email marketing technology as part of your digital package.

All of the email marketing platforms out there have different pros and cons, so the one you choose should be able to tick the most boxes for your audience. Consider this: 43% of people now check their emails on their smartphones every single day, but does that overlap with your demographic? If your core audience is 50 and over, maybe not, so you don’t have to put as much consideration into mobile optimization as you would if you were targeting millennials.

Also, consider the automation capabilities of these platforms. You do not want to be responding to every email manually. Instead, most platforms have automation software available, so plan out what kind of conversations you and your audience will be having.

Skip advertising — for now

Advertising seems like the way to get your business at the forefront of consumer’s minds, but it isn’t. Upfront, it’s just going to be a waste of your money because if you don’t have your digital pack together, you don’t have anything substantial to advertise. Let’s break this down item by item.

With no social media channels claimed and your website fully operational, where will your advertisements take your customers? Without all the right listings in place, how are customers going to know if the business that pops up on Google is yours or not? At best, they’ll be confused when they don’t find any trace of your digital presence. At worst, they’ll end up giving clicks to a brand with a similar name.

Without your digital identity being fully formed, spending money on advertising is seriously jumping the gun.

Think of your brand and your digital presence as one and the same — you need to force out your identity in every space available in order to gain the greatest momentum. By going through these steps in your digital package, you’ll position yourself to be fully responsive and able to handle an influx of business that will come as the result of your well-planned marketing campaign.

By Christopher Tompkins

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

Netflix readies video games push with hire of Oculus exec

August 18, 2021 No Comments

By Jennifer Faull

Netflix is expanding into gaming opportunities

Netflix is set to bring video games to its platform next year having made its first key hire to lead the push.

Mike Verdu was previously head of virtual and augmented reality at Facebook, where he worked with developers to bring games and other content to Oculus.

Prior to that, he spent his career leading the gaming efforts at companies including EA, Zynga and Kabam.

He will now lead Netflix’s push into creating content beyond TV shows and films. Netflix hasn’t been shy in talking up its ambition to be a major player in the $90bn video games industry.

It’s likely that some games will be tied to its most popular shows, such as Stranger Things. On its most recent earnings call, chief operating officer Greg Peters – who Verdu will report to – said its users “want to immerse themselves more deeply and get to know the characters better and their back stories and all that stuff”.

He said: “Really we’re trying to figure out what are all these different ways that we can increase those points of connection, we can deepen that fandom. And certainly, games is a really interesting component of that.

“And there’s no doubt that games are going to be an important form of entertainment and an important sort of modality to deepen that fan experience. So we’re going to keep going, and we’ll continue to learn and figure it out as we go.”

According to Bloomberg, which first reported Verdu’s hire, the first games are slated to appear on the platform within the next year. Rather than sitting on a separate site, they will appear alongside current content as a new programming genre. It is not expected that users will be charged extra to access games.

The move into gaming comes as Netflix continued to battle it out against Amazon Prime and Disney+ for new users in the competitive streaming market.

Netflix reported a dramatic slowdown in subscribers for the first three months of 2021.

As a result of the pandemic, it added 36 million subscribers in 2020 to pass 200 million subscribers worldwide. It predicted the surge would continue this year and said it expected to add six million users to the platform in the first quarter of the year. However, it only managed to add four million and now expects to add about one million subscribers in the current quarter, which would be its slowest growth on record.

By Jennifer Faull

Sourced from The Drum

In News

5 Exciting Current and Future Mobile Trends

August 18, 2021 No Comments

By Kingsley Felix

In the early days, people used crude methods to communicate.

However, the evolution of the internet has helped people to communicate even better. At the forefront of this breakthrough is mobile communication.

You can now communicate on the go using your mobile device. Also, people can use their mobile devices to know what is going on around them.

Different mobile trends would have a significant impact on the industry. Some of them are AI Personalisation, Enhanced Security, Cloud Technology, and so forth.

However, this article will focus on five of these trends.

AI Personalisation

Artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science that focuses on machines copying human behaviour to make intelligent decisions.

You need a large amount of data to be able to create an AI system that works. The breakthrough of AI in mobile apps came in 2011 when Apple launched Siri.

The integration of AI into mobile is done using sensors or chat boxes. Top companies use AI as a powerful tool to attract and retain customers.

One of the ways AI is driving mobile app personalisation is through reasoning. Mobile apps that use AI can reason out solutions to the problems of the users.

These solutions come when the machine learns from recurring patterns. Another way AI drive mobile personalisation is through AI-Powered Prediction.

The machine can predict the behaviour of the customer by tracing their history.

Different Form Factors

Mobile devices are getting better in form factor.

Top mobile companies put in a lot of work to produce different phone designs for their users.

Some of these companies are Samsung, Motorola, Apple, and more. In the 1990s, the form factor of mobile phones was the brick-like design.

Then it gradually shifted into “candy bar” designs in the early 2000s.

In the late 1990s, the first-ever mobile phone with the “slider” form factor was launched. This phone gained more popularity when it was used in the popular film — The Matrix.

Also, the flip phone was released in the late 1990s — The Motorola StarTAC. In 2019, Samsung and Huawei showcased their foldable phones.

The foldable form factor means users can now have a larger screen. Interestingly, these phones can still fit into the pockets of users because they are foldable.

Enhanced Security

Many workplaces now use mobile devices to improve the efficiency of work delivery. However, mobile devices pose different threats to the network security of the company.

Some of these threats are unsecured WI-FI, spyware, phishing scams, malicious mobile apps, and so forth. Companies can adopt different security solutions in their processes to combat these threats.

In fact, many online casinos like Platin Casino on Mobile are investing more in security measures to keep their consumer base safe and happy.

Enterprise Mobile Management Platforms is one of the security solutions companies can adopt. It allows the company to manage the real-time activities of employees and spot potential threats.

Email security is another solution. Email is the easiest way hackers can spread malware. To combat this, companies need to install advanced email security tools that will block these threats.

Increased Interest in AR

Another trend that is gaining attention is Augmented Reality technology.

This is because top companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook now use the technology.

Mobile AR saw a major break when Apple and Google launched Apple ARKit 4 and Google ARCore.

The launch of these technologies in 2017 has helped developers to explore the AR market. Android users can use the Google AR Core while iPhone users can use the Apple ARKit 4.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies had to resort to work-from-home.

Also, businesses leveraged AR technologies to help solve the problems of their clients remotely. The AR technology now allows businesses to use Remote Assistance and Virtual Manuals.

IT Technicians can now give solutions to clients’ problems through on-screen directions. However, both parties need to use one app to have the same AR experience.

Increased Dependability on Cloud Technology

Cloud technology is another trend that is getting a buzz from many companies.

The technology allows companies to access files, share software, and house databases from powerful remote servers.

Local machines can access different information from these computers via the internet. Cloud computing provides more flexibility and ease of data management to companies.

Aside from that, it helps companies to reduce the cost of installing physical infrastructures.

Serverless Computing allows companies to develop and run applications in the cloud.

All the maintenance, scaling, and upgrading of the application is done by cloud service providers for a fee.

Cloud Gaming is another cloud technology that is gaining popularity. It helps gamers to enjoy their favourite games directly from the server.

Hybrid Cloud is also a cloud technology that allows companies to share data between their public and private cloud.

Conclusion

All in all, the internet is the bedrock of all these exciting trends. Companies are now embracing mobile communication because of the flexibility it offers.

AI can now be incorporated into mobile using sensors and chat boxes. One of the ways AI is driving mobile app personalisation is through reasoning.

Additionally, another mobile trend is the form factor. Cloud Technology and Augmented Reality are also gaining popularity among users.

With all these exciting trends, we can say mobile technology is here to stay.

Feature Image Credit: fauxels on Pexels.com

By Kingsley Felix

https://kraftysprouts.media

Kingsley Felix, 2 time African Blogger of the year (2015, 2016) is the founder of Krafty Sprouts Media, LLC, a small digital media publishing agency registered in Sheridan, Wyoming, USA. Based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria i make sure things run smoothly and effectively, an enthusiast in tech, animals, health, politics and many more… (yup the real jack of all trade, master of all 😀🤣)

Sourced from TX THE XPLORION

In News

How to Get a Google Featured Snippet with Your WordPress Site

August 18, 2021 No Comments

Sourced from wpbeginner

Do you want to get a Google featured snippet with your WordPress site?

Featured snippets are the highlighted results for a Google search. Users are more likely to click on a featured snippet than a plain search result.

In this article, we will show you how to get a Google featured snippet with your WordPress site without any technical knowledge.

Here is a quick overview of things we’ll cover in this article:

What are Google Featured Snippets?

Google featured snippets are highlighted results that’s shown at the top of the page above position one that’s why they’re also known as position 0.

In the featured snippet, Google may display a search result in the Answer box or highlight it using microdata from your website.

For example, if Google thinks that your website will answers user’s question adequately, then it will appear on top with relevant text displayed as the description.

Similarly, Google also uses Schema.org metadata to fetch important information from websites and display them in search results at the top. For example, if you search for a local business, then their relevant business information will be at the top.

Featured snippets can enhance product pages for your online store, better showcase your recipes, highlight your real estate listings, and more.

The enhanced search display of featured snippets improves your organic click-through rate and brings more free traffic to your website.

This is why all smart business owners optimize their website, so they can have maximum chances of appearing as featured snippets in Google search.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to get Google featured snippets for your WordPress posts and pages.

Getting Google Featured Snippet using All in One SEO

Google uses Schema.org metadata and their knowledge graph API to display different types of featured snippets.

Schema markup is a special vocabulary that you can use in your content’s HTML code to give search engines more context about your website and individual pages.

In the early days, this used to be hard for small businesses because it involved a lot of coding.

But that’s not the case anymore, thanks to plugins like All in One SEO for WordPress.

It is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market that’s used by over 2 million websites. They help you easily optimize your website for higher search engine rankings.

AIOSEO automatically adds Schema.org support which helps you provide information for Google Knowledge Graph. It has full WooCommerce SEO support, local SEO, images, news, video optimization, and more.

First, you need to install and activate the All in One SEO for WordPress plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll be asked to run the setup wizard. It is the easiest way to quickly select the best SEO settings for your website.

Need help with the setup? See our complete guide on how to install and set up All in One SEO for WordPress.

Now, if you have followed the setup wizard, the basic settings for your website to appear in featured snippets are already set.

But we’ll show you what they do and how to change them if you need to.

Setting up Knowledge Graph Information in WordPress

First, you need to visit All in One SEO » Search Appearance page and scroll down to the Knowledge Graph section.

From here, you can tell the search engines who your website represents (i.e. An organization or an individual). After that, you can provide your business phone number, logo, and contact type information.

Don’t forget to click on the Save Changes button to store your settings.

Knowledge Graph information is used by search engines to display knowledge panels. These panels appear when someone searches for an organization or individual person.

Adding Local Business Information to Featured Snippets

More than 40% of all searches on the internet have a local intent. Majority of these searches lead to sales as users are looking for directions and things to buy near them.

Many businesses and organizations have retail locations and offices that customers can visit.

You can add this information using All in One SEO and let search engines automatically display it in featured snippets.

First, go to the All in One SEO » Local SEO page and activate the Local SEO feature.

Upon activation, you can choose if your organization or business has multiple locations. If you do, then you can go ahead and start adding those locations otherwise you can scroll down to add your business information.

After that, switch to the Opening Hours tab to add your business hours.

For more details, check out our article on how to add business hours in WordPress.

Finally, you need to connect and verify your business using Google My Business website. This gives you more control over your business’s appearance in Google search results and improves your chances appearing more often in featured snippets.

Add SEO Schema Markup in WordPress Posts / Pages

All in One SEO automatically adds the correct Schema markup for your content. However, you can review these settings and change them if needed.

Simply go to All in One SEO » Search Appeaerance page and switch to the content types tab. From here, you’ll see all your post types listed (posts, pages, products).

You need to click on the ‘Schema’ for a post type to change its default settings.

What if you didn’t want to change schema type for all posts? Well, AIOSEO let’s you change Schema markup for individual posts, pages, and other post types as well.

Simply edit the post or page you want to change and scroll down to the AIOSEO settings box below the post editor.

This feature is particularly useful for businesses that use Pages to sell products with or without using an Ecommerce plugins. You can then simply edit your product landing page and change its schema type to Product.

Adding Breadcrumbs Navigation in WordPress

Another way to turn your search listing into a more enhanced featured snippet is by using Breadcrumb navigation.

Breadcrumb navigation tells users where they are on a website relative to the homepage. It is then displayed as a trail of links and would also appear in search results.

You can also display the breadcrumb navigation trail on your website. This allows users to go up and down, browse categories, and discover more products and content.

For search engines, All in One SEO automatically adds the required markup to your website’s HTML code. However, if you want to display breadcrumbs on your site too, then you can go to All in One SEO » General Settings page and switch to the Breadcrumbs tab.

From here, you need to Enable Breadcrumbs and then use one of the available methods to display the links. For more details, check out our article on how to add breadcrumb navigation links in WordPress.

Get Site Links for WordPress in Google Search

Site Links are the additional links that Google may show below a particular search term. They usually appear for brand and website names, but they may appear for other types of searches as well.

To get site links, you need to add your website to Google Search Console and submit your XML sitemap.

You can increase your chances of getting site links by creating a proper website structure. This includes adding all the important pages for your website and use categories to properly organize your website structure.

Appear in The Answer Box for Google Search

What’s better than ranking #1 for a keyword?

Ranking #0 in the answer box.

Answer boxes are the search results that appear on the top and Google considers them to be answering user’s search intent.

Answer boxes have an average click-through rate of 32% which makes them highly lucrative. Particularly for keywords with a purchase intent Answer boxes can lead to sales and boost conversions.

The only way to appear in the answer boxes is to improve the quality of your content. Make sure it is comprehensive and answers users’ questions from different angles.

See our detailed tutorial on how to appear in the Google Answer boxes with your WordPress posts and pages.

We hope this tutorial helped you get featured snippets with your WordPress site. You may also want to see our guide on how to get more traffic to your website with proven tips, and our comparison of the best email marketing services.

Sourced from wpbeginner

In News

What Are the 4 Stages of the Inbound Marketing Methodology?

August 17, 2021 No Comments

By Thom Murtagh

Inbound marketing serves to attract potential customers by dazzling them with great online content, specifically tailored for them.

Compare this to outbound marketing — which often interrupts potential customers in ways they might not appreciate — such as telemarketing, cold calling and television or radio commercials.

But by providing people with valuable content they can consume at their leisure, you can not only generate leads, but you can also secure lifelong customers. This makes inbound marketing essential for gaining new customers and creating loyal brand ambassadors.

Let’s take a look at what comprises inbound marketing, how to effectively implement the four stages of a successful inbound marketing strategy and why this is such an important aspect of your overall marketing strategy.

What is Inbound Marketing?

At its core, inbound marketing provides potential and long-time customers with valuable content. You accomplish this by guiding consumers through the buyers’ journey, and you do it all without actually advertising or outright promoting your brand.

Inbound marketers work in collaboration with the company’s sales team to draft a profile of your desired target audience. This includes answering questions such as:

“Who is our ideal customer?”
“What kind of income levels do they have?”
“Which demographic do they belong to?”
“How does our product or service solve a problem they’re having?”

With these buyer personas in hand, you can then move to the next phase of crafting your strategy: following the four stages of inbound marketing methodology.

The 4 Stages of Inbound Methodology

Generally speaking, you can divide your inbound marketing strategy into four main stages:

1. Attract

The first step is catching the eye of potential customers. Ways to attract these consumers vary, but ultimately this is what generates your leads.

Your goal should be to use SEO-enhanced digital marketing content, such as blogs or infographics, or a strong social media presence to drive people to your website, where you can move them further down your sales funnel.

2. Convert

After attracting site visitors, you then need to convert these leads into prospects. You can accomplish this through form-fills, calls-to-action or gated material on your website’s landing pages.

3. Close

Once you’ve converted the leads into prospects, you need to then close the deals. A CRM can identify where each of the leads came from while also tracking the sale sizes, which helps you further hone your messaging.

4. Engage

Your work isn’t done after closing the deal. You still need to delight your customers in engaging ways to earn their brand loyalty and turn them into long-time buyers.

How Can Content Attract Customers?

Each stage of the inbound marketing methodology is important, as is the type of content used at each stage. The type of digital content you publish should relate to the particular inbound methodology stage you’re trying to reach. But most importantly, this content needs to be valuable.

Quality content is key.

Whether it’s in the form of digital ads, videos, blogging, social media or graphics, the content you use in your inbound marketing campaign needs to be entertaining, informative and valuable to your customers.

When your content meets these criteria, you build more brand awareness, credibility and trust, while also educating the audience about your solutions. This helps create demand and, ultimately, generates leads.

How to Create Valuable Content

You have many options for what kind of content you can create to attract or engage customers, so long as you make sure you’re providing something of substance for them.

In the Attract Stage, you can collect data from industry analysts and market research, and share this data in easily digestible and shareable content, such as an infographic or a listicle blog.

Depending on your industry, you might want to make this fun and lively if you have a B2C model. Or, on the other hand, consider utilizing your industry subject matter expertise and write long-form, serious thought leadership pieces.

For example, you can attract consumers with your digital content if they are specifically searching for particular answers to a question they typed into Google. If your piece of content, say a blog, uses search engine optimized (SEO) keywords and phrases specific to your target audience, Google will give your content a high rank on its search engine results page (SERP). This, in turn, attracts viewers to the blog on your website.

Similarly, a strong social media strategy can work to help keep customers engaged. The brand’s official social media accounts can listen for feedback, answer questions, conduct surveys and generally just interact with other users.

It’s important to keep in mind that the type of content you use throughout the four stages of your inbound marketing strategy should all work in tandem and flow from one stage to the next.

While it might require you spending some time to craft and implement your own strategy that’s best suited for your brand’s needs, inbound marketing remains a cost-effective and proven method of marketing.

By Thom Murtagh

Thom Murtagh is a Chicago-based copywriter and digital marketing specialist. He enjoys cooking, jamming out on the ukulele, and trying to keep pace with the never-ending deluge of new movies, shows, and books.

Sourced from Brafton