Retargeting
Article | July 20, 2022
Every business understands that brand marketing is the name of the game. In fact, the brand is a business’s best asset. It can help a business stand out amongst its competitors in the most authentic way possible. It can also act as a bridge and connect a business to its target audience.
When it comes to brand marketing, many businesses do not struggle with the concept. They struggle with the application. Marketing techniques are changing every few months. New platforms are being introduced in the digital world. It’s easy for businesses to lose themselves and their identity while adapting to change. Unfortunately, this is one of the common issues that businesses face while marketing their brand.
5 Common Branding Problems for Businesses
Every business has encountered at least one of these problems:
• Lacking an established identity. An undefined brand is just as bad as not having a brand
• Consistent messaging across various platforms. Some businesses struggle with remaining true to their brand values as they navigate new channels
• Possessing a creative marketing strategy. Without a direction or guide, it’s hard for businesses to discover their target audience and where to market to them
• Staying true to a target audience. Many businesses have lost their core audience while trying to gain a new one
• Lack of scalability. Some businesses struggle with discovering which marketing techniques can take them to the next level
Fortunately, there’s a solution that can solve all these problems. That solution is multimedia content.
How Multimedia Content Can Help Maximize Brand Marketing
What is multimedia content?
Content that incorporates a variety of different elements for its consumers. These elements could be audio, text, or graphic images. Each of these elements can be used separately to market content. But when used together, they can enhance the brand marketing experience for businesses and its customers.
What are some examples of multimedia content?
• Landing pages that include videos and images
• Blog posts with video clips from podcasts
• Infographics that include text
•Social media posts that include text and images
Multimedia content also allows new marketing possibilities for businesses. Digital marketing includes a vast array of content, from blog posts and website pages to videos and infographics.
Businesses can take advantage of these elements and create new marketing content for their customers. A software company, for example, can create an installation guide with infographics and post it on their website page. Businesses can also create storyboards to explain difficult concepts about their products or services. Discovering new content to produce for their customers is another way that businesses can stand out amongst their competitors.
Consistent Branding with Variety
Businesses can use different media elements to add a little variety to their content. Audio and visual elements can be used to enhance blog posts or FAQ pages and increase the engagement for readers.
Adding these new elements can help businesses stand out amongst the competition while remaining authentic. Maintaining a consistent brand identity makes it easier for businesses to establish trust with their target audience.
Exposure to a Wider Audience
At the same time, businesses always want to think of ways to expand themselves. This is what makes multimedia content so beneficial for businesses. They can use different multimedia elements to introduce their content to a different audience. Take an IT service company, for example, who wants to market their services to customers outside of their local area. They can create a blog post on cloud storage, repurpose it into a video and post the video on the business’s YouTube page, with the link to the original blog post in the description box of the video.
This type of content is marketable to every type of consumer. Businesses can provide audio content like podcasts to customers who may not yet be subscribed to their websites. They can create visual content for customers who are more drawn to striking images.
Incorporating these different elements allows businesses to reach customers that they may not have reached through just text-based or audio-based content.
Creative Possibilities for Digital Marketing
Multimedia content also allows new marketing possibilities for businesses. Digital marketing includes a vast array of content, from blog posts and website pages to videos and infographics.
Businesses can take advantage of these elements and create new marketing content for their customers. A software company, for example, can create an installation guide with infographics and post it on their website page.
Businesses can also create storyboards to explain difficult concepts about their products or services. Discovering new content to produce for their customers is another way that businesses can stand out amongst their competitors.
Established Brand Identity
Each business wants to be viewed as unique by their customer base. They do not want to be compared to every other business in their industry. With multimedia content, businesses can add a unique touch to their content marketing. Different multimedia elements and the way that they are embodied throughout the content can help businesses to stand out amongst its competitors.
Using these elements can also help a business remain in the creative stages of marketing. When a business remains in the creative phase, it makes establishing a creative marketing strategy easier.
Consistent and Creative Marketing Strategy
Like every other aspect of business, marketing is easier when a strategy is in effect. Multimedia content helps answer many marketing questions for businesses. Instead of spending additional time wondering what marketing platforms are effective, multimedia content can be used for every type of platform.
This allows businesses to use many interactive elements in their content and become more proactive in their marketing strategy. Businesses can create effective marketing systems by scheduling specific times to post different types of content across several platforms. By leveraging these methods, businesses can remain consistent with their brand marketing.
Greater Opportunities for Growth
Creating multimedia content also leads to increased productivity for businesses. Multimedia content gives businesses several options for content marketing. They can choose to create original content or repurpose their current content and add something new and refreshing.
These options help businesses reduce the amount of time they would spend on creating content. With the additional time, businesses can brainstorm opportunities for growth. They can spend additional time generating leads and catering to their current audience.
Taking The Next Steps with Multimedia Content
For businesses that want to transition into multimedia content, the best place to start is with the business’s vision. Consider what goals want to be achieved with the use of multimedia content. This type of content is so multifaceted that it can help any business achieve its core objectives.
Software companies can use multimedia content to educate their core audience about a particular product. They can use different interactive elements to illustrate how their product or service helps solve their audience’s problems.
Next, consider the needs of the target audience. Conduct some research and discover the audience’s responses when it comes to different types of content. Keep track of the different types of formats and platforms the audience is visiting.
Once the goals and needs of the audience are clearly defined, think about the different types of multimedia content that can be created. Businesses can incorporate different types of audio, visual, and interactive elements into their marketing content.
Lastly, remember to track the results of the multimedia content once it’s been created and distributed. Taking these next few steps can help businesses maintain a consistent brand marketing strategy.
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Advertiser Campaign Management
Article | August 12, 2022
Artificial intelligence in advertising is disrupting marketing. It is a new way to reach customers that is more personalized, engaging, and targeted than traditional ads. AI-based marketing can improve customer experience, sales and marketing, and lead generation strategies. As a result, B2B companies are adapting AI ads to target key accounts. Let us understand what ideal AI ad campaigns look like:
AI Ad Campaigns: Things to Consider
The most important factors that impact the success of an AI ad are its message, tone, and length.
Message: The message needs to be clear and concise so your target audience can immediately grasp what you are saying.
Tone: The tone needs to be friendly and conversational, and it should get a response so that your brand is approachable and not invasive.
Length: The ad should be between 50-150 words. The length should depend on the message you are trying to convey.
Optimizing Your AI Ad Campaign
Here are some tips to optimize your AI ad campaign:
Identify and understand the goals of your campaign. Select relevant and appropriate channels to influence your target segments effectively.
Use conversion rates, click-through rates, and other metrics to decide where to allocate your ad budget and how best to enhance the content for different target segments.
Design your campaign while keeping in mind consumer interaction and your campaign objectives. Regularly map the outcomes and make adjustments to address any issues.
Consider using an AI ad creator, a type of digital software that creates ads without human input. It automatically modifies text and images to create targeted ads.
Impact on the Future of Advertising
Through automation and optimization, AI will impact the future of advertising and marketing. It will help marketers get insights, develop strategies and create targeted content and companies to increase customer engagement, customer experience and ad efficiency.
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Social Media Advertising
Article | July 13, 2022
Where’s the nearest click and collect? What time does our local store close in light of the latest COVID-19 restrictions? Where can I order that toy car he/she wanted for Christmas?
Our bet is Google is your first port of call for an answer to any of these questions.
If it is, you’re not alone. In fact, it’s estimated that Google processes 5.8 billion user searches per day. And, even though there are other search engines out there, like Bing and Yahoo, it is by far the most popular.
So, with so many potential customers – because let’s face it, of those 5.8 billion there are bound to be a few thousand searching for your specific products or services - businesses simply cannot overlook advertising on Google. And even more so now thanks to restrictions on physical stores across the world being put back in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Nate Burke, CEO and founder of Diginius, an ecommerce solutions provider that specialises in digital marketing PPC management, explains how you can get the most out of your Google advertising activities.
The first round of lockdowns during the spring and early summer saw many businesses with physical outlets grind to almost a complete halt. Going digital was the only option for many in order to have some chance of survival.
This saw restaurants offering online order services, more retailers moving into ecommerce and professional services conducting remote meetings via video calls.
Despite some easing of restrictions, many have kept digital their focus. For example, video meetings such as Microsoft Teams, which grew by 894% between February to June in 2020, are now prevalent as the office’s new best friend. And restaurants for instance, have advanced their minimal contact table service, allowing customers to order and pay for food on their phones by scanning a QR code or downloading an app.
But now, with lockdown restrictions being re-enforced in Britain and many other parts of the world, businesses looking to maximise their sales and earnings ahead of the Christmas period, and before the New Year begins, can’t ignore the advertising opportunities available on Google.
PPC
PPC advertising is perhaps the most obvious opportunity. It’s the best way to guarantee that your brand is put in front of an audience and can help generate a spike in traffic and leads.
Paid Search identifies “buyers” immediately. People who have typed in and are clicking a specific keyword tends to already be in buying mode, even if only at the research stage of the journey, which is so powerful compared to the rest of the marketing mix
This is because searchers seek convenience. We have come to expect the first listing on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) to provide an answer to our query. If it doesn’t, we are more likely to change our search than scroll through pages and pages of results.
Therefore, getting your brand on that all-important first page is crucial for success on Google, which is exactly why paid advertising is beneficial. Not only can it promise a guaranteed spot here, if, the price is right for you, but it could also, potentially, provide you with the number one position.
As well as SERPs, ads can be created for the display network, utilising visual aids in the form of graphics and videos to attract leads on the Google Shopping network, which is particularly beneficial for ecommerce businesses looking to increase sales.
However, to ensure your ads are shown to people who will add value to your business, PPC activity must be strategically mapped out and effectively managed. Account set-up, keywords and bidding strategies must be considered, monitored and then adjusted to ensure your activity is effective and a return on your investment is achieved.
This requires dedicated personnel, time and budget – for both ad spend and management practices for either training, wages or outsourcing the task to an agency.
But, despite the capital required to get started, there are a number of ways to ensure you yield results that make it worthwhile. For example, remarketing can help minimise lost leads and maximise budget by targeting potential customers who have already shown an interest in your product or service.
Automation strategies are another. Bidding and ad copy can be altered automatically, depending on factors including the time of day, location and the user’s specific query wording, for instance. This lessens the chance of clicks from users with little intention of purchasing or submitting an enquiry, and, consequently, reduces wasted budget. Another common way to get more out of search advertising is to replicate campaigns across Microsoft Ads, where there is typically less competition, cheaper clicks, and a better return on investment, albeit lower search volumes.
Local strategy
One of the greatest benefits of the internet is its ability to connect businesses and customers no matter the physical distance between them. And, with lockdown enforcements, an online offering presents an opportunity to reach an even wider customer base than a shop or physical facility that is restricted by location.
However, the internet is a big, old place. It houses greater competition than what many businesses are used to in the physical realm and, as result, it’s easy to become lost, especially if you are in the early stages of establishing an online presence.
So, no matter whether you’re a retailer offering click and collect or running business as usual albeit remotely, keeping things local is your best bet for online success.
In fact, Google uses a Relevance, Distance and Prominence model to determine search results. Those most relevant, the closest in distance to the searcher and most prominent or popular are more likely to be ranked higher on results pages.
In order to maximise your chances of ranking highly for those searching for your products and services in your local area, you should make the most of tools, such as Google My Business and reviews.
As well as providing potential customers with vital business information, such as your address, contact details and COVID-adjusted opening hours, you can also instil trust and confidence in them by presenting a business that appears to be well established and organised. This is particularly important as those consumer sentiments have declined due to the pandemic.
So far, businesses have done well in adapting their processes to changing customer needs in such a short amount of time and under incredibly difficult circumstances at that.
With the coronavirus crisis far from over and many facing an online future, the only thing we can be certain of at this point is that businesses and retailers must act now to grasp opportunity. By utilising platforms such as Google and Microsoft, business owners are not simply making the best of a bad situation but are more so positioning their brand at the forefront of their chosen industry, gifting a significant advantage when markets reopen in their newly digital-focused form.
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Ad Networks
Article | October 20, 2022
When print publishers transitioned to online publishing, they were keen to find a way to generate revenue. Their revenue model in the print world was advertising, so they needed to monetize their content online. Display ads were a great start for them. They sold their advertising space to interested advertisers directly. Even then, there would always be some ad inventory that remained unsold. The need of the hour was a platform that could help them sell this inventory. That is when ad networks for publishers and advertisers came into the picture. Let us take a deeper look into how ad networks are helping both publishers and advertisers optimize their selling and buying processes.
Ad Networks: Simplifying Ad Buying and Selling
An ad network is a technology-backed platform that acts as an intermediary between a group of publishers who want to sell their ads and advertisers interested in buying them.
Ad networks for publishers and advertisers first appeared in the mid-nineties as the earliest advertising technology to support online advertising. They helped advertisers buy ad space across multiple publishing platforms.
The primary purpose of an ad network was to collect unsold ads from different publishers and put them up for offer to advertisers at a lower price than what a direct sale would cost. This kind of ad inventory was mostly referred to as remnant, non-premium ads that publishers struggled to sell directly.
Today, ad networks for publishers focus on offering advertisers exclusive ad deals at premium prices. They pre-buy inventory from different publishers and then resell it to advertisers at premium prices to help advertisers get the impressions they expect.
Types of Ad Networks
Based on your audience, industry, topics, and formats, you have four main types of ad networks to choose from:
Inventory-specific networks: Such networks have ads of a specific type, such as mobile or video.
Vertical advertising networks: These are ad networks that focus on a specific topic, such as fashion, automobiles, or business.
Premium networks: These are the networks that offer premium inventory, mostly from popular publishers.
Targeted networks: These networks offer specific targeting capabilities through a built-in ad server.
How do Ad Networks Work?
Ad networks for publishers and advertisers keep on evolving with technological advancements. To understand how the best ads network works, here are the dynamic steps they follow to benefit publishers and advertisers:
Ad networks compile multiple publishers with available ad inventory.
Advertisers create campaigns using the ad network’s campaign panel, keeping in mind their budget, target audience, and any other special attributes.
The publishers install relevant ad network tags on their websites.
When there is a match between an ad campaign set by an advertiser and the publisher’s ad inventory, ad information is sent to the publisher. The ad network provider gets a share of the ad revenue generated from the campaign or by selling the inventory at a higher price than the publisher.
Using the ad network’s campaign panel, the advertiser tracks and manages the ad’s performance.
Ad Networks in Programmatic Advertising
Ad networks for publishers and advertisers are a part of programmatic advertising, which is the process of automatically buying and selling digital advertising space. In this space, demand-side platforms (which help advertisers) and supply-side platforms (which help publishers) streamline the buying and selling process through real-time bidding (RTB).
Businesses and enterprises rely on programmatic advertising for their digital advertising needs because publishers are adopting native ads on their websites. Thanks to native ads, ad blockers don’t affect advertising, and marketers can optimize and improve their ads with programmatic techniques for campaign success. It's no surprise that programmatic digital display ad spending is expected to increase by 25.8% this year (Source: Brand Equity).
In conjugation with ad networks, an ad exchange connects DSPs and SSPs autonomously. An ad exchange came into the picture in 2005 when ad networks were not enough to solve the cumbersome problem publishers were facing ─ selling unsold ad space. Automation in the open marketplace for buying and selling digital ads was the solution. An ad exchange offers a streamlined platform for advertisers, publishers, ad networks, and other parties to connect their ad serving technologies for efficiency.
Ad Network and Ad Exchange: What is the Difference?
In the programmatic advertising ecosystem, the ad network and the ad exchange are two important components that are often mistaken to be the same because of their role in media buying. Let us take a look at the factors that separate the two.
Attribute
Ad Network
Ad Exchange
Function
Intermediary between publishers and advertisers
Open marketplace for everyone
Identity
Company
Technology
Key Users
Publishers, advertisers and agencies
Publishers, advertisers, agencies, ad networks, DSPs, SSPs and ATDs
Important Characteristic
Pre-segmented ads for particular audience. Promotes bulk buying and selling.
Pool of various types of ad inventory. Based on an impression-per-impression trade
Ad Quality
Top-tier ad inventory, often sold for the first time
All available inventory on sale including remnant ad slots
Optimization
Time consuming
Optimization possible on-the-go
Cost
Stable and determined by the ad network
Dynamic pricing based on real-time bidding by advertisers
Impact on Advertiser
Ad prices are higher
Advertisers can define the pricing
Impact on Publisher
Low control over inventory pricing and optimization
More control over value per impression
Buyer/Seller Information
Advertisers are unaware of the placement of their ads
Publishers don’t know who the advertisers are
Both advertisers and publishers have each other’s information
Why Advertisers and Publishers Rely on Ad Networks?
A Wider Range of Options
With the help of top ad networks, advertisers and publishers can buy or sell more ad space. As a part of monetization strategies for publishers, they can rapidly increase their revenue through premium or remnant inventory because ad networks bring them the highest paying bids. Advertisers, on the other hand, can easily find any type of ad inventory that matches their budget for ad publishing.
Higher Return on Investment
Top ad networks bring in more revenue from advertising. The better the quality of ads, the higher the revenue for advertisers because they get precisely matched with their targeting needs and they can choose the most profitable deals.
Increased Efficiency
Automation in matching publishers and advertisers is the biggest advantage of advertising networks. It saves the time of manually looking for suitable deals or favorable pricing. The best publishers that bring the best impressions on ads can easily be approached. Publishers can get their inventory sold for the best price thanks to digital advertising networks.
Features of an Ideal Ad Network for Publishers & Advertisers
Here is a list of features you can refer to while choosing an ad network that caters to your needs:
Size: The size of the advertising network matters because it facilitates a steady traffic. The more traffic it can deliver, the higher your ROI will be.
Quality: Identify the quality of the inventory that an ad network offers. It should match the kind of inventory you need.
Audience Targeting: Your ad network should support different audience targeting options so that ad campaigns work perfectly well.
Format Support: Your ad network should support different formats like responsive, call-only, animated GIF or simple banners so you can diversify into different formats without any hassles.
Reliability: Depending on your requirements, ensure that the network doesn’t go down and provides consistent service so your business remains unaffected. The interface should also be easy to use, clean, and rich with data to help your marketing team optimize their personalization efforts.
CTV Streaming Platform Used PubMatic to Bump its Revenue by 400%
Future Today, a premium CTV streaming platform, used PubMatic’s platform to drive its ad revenue. PubMatic helped Future Today partner with a leading CTV DSP and achieve a lucrative private marketplace (PMP) agreement to create incremental demand through direct integration and optimized engagement.
“PubMatic has been one of Future Today's fastest growing demand partners in the last 6 months. The entire team has been a pleasure to work with and they genuinely understand the value of CTV in the market.” – Katya Shkolnik, Head of Partnerships, Future Today Inc.
Key Takeaways
Display, native, and banner advertising campaigns are critical for marketers like you to scale your business, so understanding how and what an ad network for publishers and advertisers does is important to creating the best, most effective advertising campaigns that bear results.
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