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Lucia’s type 2 diabetes has been under control for a year. Every month, she needs the same medications and the same number of blood glucose test strips. How can she get these products most conveniently and cheaply?
Daniel is a FedEx employee with a company-sponsored flexible savings account (FSA). He lost his reading glasses and needs new insoles but doesn’t know whether these items are eligible. Michelle has persistent sinus infections due to a deviated septum. She knows what medication she needs and can’t take time off to see a doctor, who’s likely to give her the same treatment regimen as before. Trailblazing companies are providing solutions for each of these consumers with simple-to-use mobile apps. They’ve brought to market radically different approaches to targeting, marketing and servicing consumers that we’ll discuss on the “Learning from the D2C Upstarts” panel Sept. 27 at the MediaPost Marketing Health conference. advertisement advertisement Here are four topics we plan to address. Don’t try to be the “Uber” of healthcare. In today’s healthcare delivery system, successful entrants aren’t “disruptors.” They are bringing about new approaches to the challenges present in the existing care continuum. An excellent example of these newer entrants are sister platforms FSAstore.com and HSAstore.com. Approximately 35 million people are covered by flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and another 20 million by health savings accounts (HSAs). FSAs and HSAs are employer-based programs that allow consumers to set aside dollars on a tax-free basis to purchase medical products and services. FSAs are offered by 63% of employers, making it the tax-advantaged health care account most frequently offered to employees. FSAstore.com and HSAstore.com were founded on the idea that it should be simple for consumers like Daniel to spend, manage, and use their FSAs and HSAs. The sites are stocked exclusively with eligible products and services, so there’s no guessing about what is and is not reimbursable by users' accounts. Consumers know what they want and are making their needs clear. Michelle knows what she needs for her sinusitis and just wants to get it without going to see a doctor. Enter Lemonaid Health, the app-based telehealth platform powered by LMND Medical Group, Inc. Lemonaid promotes itself as an online doctor’s office, providing a flat rate of $25 per “visit.” Once a five-minute visit is complete, Lemonaid provides incremental convenience with direct links to both mail order and local pharmacies. Thus, Michelle has multiple choices for getting her meds quickly and efficiently. Successful entrants deliver on affordability and transparency. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation study, 24% of Americans didn't fill a prescription last year because of the high cost, while 19% said they skipped a dose or cut pills in half for the same reason. The Blink app from Blink Health addresses this issue. The online pharmacy leverages the buying power of the “Blink Health Nation” to negotiate directly with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), pharma manufacturers and major pharmacy chains for sharply discounted drug prices. Someone like Lucia searches the site for the drugs and strips she needs, pays online at lower prices, picks them up at her pharmacy, or has them delivered. The engine behind its pricing model is its contract with MedImpact, the nation’s largest privately held PBM. Blink uses MedImpact’s network of over 60,000 pharmacies to lock in a single price for consumers wherever they fill their prescriptions. Blink Health’s value prop to consumers is simple: lowering the price of drugs to provide more value for your healthcare dollar, whether or not you’re insured. Transparency drives opportunity. Blink Health’s success illustrates this lesson. One of the constant themes in both Blink Health’s messaging and the testimonials of their members is the legitimate and dramatic comparisons between the costs of a drug before and after purchasing through Blink Health. In addition to the tried-and-true techniques of “friend get a friend” offers, Blink takes a crowdsourcing approach to organic growth, and loyalty. It has built a cadre of repeat buyers who are also incentivized to refer others, with the rationale that having more of your friends join lowers drug and OTC product prices for all. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 26, 2018 at 09:43AM
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Using Agility as an Excuse for Indecisiveness https://ift.tt/2Igg0JX The following is a guest contributed post from Alani Setalsingh, a Mobile Strategist and Business Analyst at Propelics Agile is one of the biggest buzzwords in business today. Companies are either starting to utilize Agile methodology as a means to run their businesses or are beginning to explore how to properly “be Agile.” Agile methodology helps business groups show progress and results more quickly and effectively than in the past. Although many companies confidently claim to be Agile, after review it becomes clear that not only are they not properly implementing Agile, but in fact they are using this methodology as a way to justify indecisiveness. Companies need to understand that if a business process is working well, then the entire business may not require adjustment. Many successful companies don’t use Agile yet will continue to be successful-even when compared to Agile businesses. Agile is often described as “a process based on iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams. Agile methods or Agile processes generally promote a disciplined project management process that encourages frequent inspection and adaptation, a leadership philosophy that encourages teamwork, self-organization and accountability, a set of engineering best practices intended to allow for rapid delivery of high-quality software, and a business approach that aligns development with customer needs and company goals.” Agile methodology is a great option if implemented properly. But oftentimes it can lead to longer development cycles and out of scope project specifications that only complicate tasks. It’s not enough for a company to simply decide to use Agile. They must also invest in training their employees to properly understand the benefits. Companies must also be willing to try new tools, invest in training and implementation, and take the time to give the methodology a chance by starting small (versus altering the entire company). That’s not to say these companies have no chance of success once they’ve given Agile a chance and failed, but there are necessary steps and points to keep in mind if being effectively Agile is the end goal. Though this is only a start, the following points will certainly help companies better utilize all the advantages of an Agile methodology: Firstly, companies must be willing to try new tools specifically designed to facilitate a more Agile approach. Tools like JIRA exist to better help companies plan their projects and more effectively track things like releases, sprints, bugs and tasks. Secondly, companies must be willing to train employees on Agile and ensure they know how to implement the lessons they have learned. Without training, people will create their own versions of agility. Sometimes these may work, but more frequently they will be time consuming and costly for the overall business. Lastly, it is of utmost importance not to give up after your first failed agile project. Process changes take time for people to accept and fully utilize. Rather than giving up, learn from the mistakes made and work to limit these issues in the future. Granted, this is a lot easier said than done. But with the right mindset, many businesses can reap huge benefits and rewards from going Agile. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alani Setalsingh is a Mobile Strategist and Business Analyst at Propelics. Alani earned his MBA from Suffolk University and has guided numerous Fortune 500 Companies on their internal mobile apps programs. Alani helps clients redefine their business processes to support a fertile and robust mobile environment. He is most passionate about Healthcare Mobility and all the myriad benefits it can bring to patients and caregivers alike. The post Using Agility as an Excuse for Indecisiveness appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch. Mobile Marketing via Mobile Marketing Watch https://ift.tt/HGJCKG September 26, 2018 at 08:14AM
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How Rewarded Video Ads Can Drive In-Game Purchases https://ift.tt/2IgfWtH The following is a guest contributed post by Fernando Saiz, CMO at Tappx The rewarded video ad format is adored by the mobile gaming and advertising worlds. We now finally have an ad format that satisfies the needs of advertisers, publishers and gaming audiences. Rewarded video ads provide gamers with a reward for watching the entire length of a video ad. In the mobile gaming world, this format works extremely well in mobile games. For developers, rewarded video ads offer the potential to increase in-app purchases and lengthen play session times, therefore increasing loyalty and retention. Also, they provide advertisers with advantages that stimulates higher ROI and engagement levels. Finally, many users express greater amenability for watching rewarded video ads over any other ad format. Can rewarded video ads help drive in-game purchases? Imagine if you’re playing a game, and you’ve just finished an end-of-level boss with a life remaining. Following this level, you watch a rewarded video ad and you’re then given an extra life. This method of non-disruptive advertising gives players the chance to extend play time, without hassle or interruption to game play. Extending the amount of time spent in a game is perhaps the single most important way players become more invested in games, thus building loyalty. This then translates to increased gaming session times and retention. As players invest more time and energy into their games, this leads to greater levels of excitement, therefore increasing the probability that they will conduct in-game purchases. Also, developers can receive a higher CPM for rewarded video ads than static ads. In addition to earning more, developers benefit from displaying ad formats that positively contribute to the overall user satisfaction within a game. Facebook commissioned mobile games research has reported that mobile gamers are a staggering 18% more likely to conduct an in-app purchase when served a rewarded video ad, versus non-choice based advertising. See the May 2017 report here. The key point is to build the right rewards, and to then decide when are the optimum moments to serve rewarded video ads, and balance the timing for delivery of ads during gaming sessions. The main objective is to provide gamers with a taste of all the benefits of a game, whilst earning a remnant revenue. Don’t let these ads eat into your main source of revenue, so be considerate about your content and it’s delivery times. Constantly review your metrics and decide whether or not to deploy rewarded video ads. What’s the conversion rate from player to paid player? What’s your ARPDAU? Or what are the valuable items that remain unsold and should be promoted? Rewarded video ads can serve as a research A/B machine for testing new features and getting acceptance from your current ones. How do Rewarded Ads benefit the Advertiser? The key thing for advertisers to note is that users choose to engage with rewarded video ads. Therefore, the user is engaged with the video and is incentivised to complete watching the video ads. What’s more, the video is guaranteed high viewability. The developers also have the incentive to place as many rewarded video ads as is practical, such as between game levels or during loading screens. This provides the potential for repeat ads within the game, thus promoting brand recall. Some of the key benefits which rewarded video ads offer advertisers include high viewability, engagement, and completion rates, as well as increased brand recall. Why are users excited about rewarded video ads? In one survey done, almost 80% of gamers expressed interest for watching rewarded video ads in exchange for in-app benefits. For mobile gamers, these benefits could be in the form of in-app virtual money, extended gameplay life or other in-game assets. All of these examples enhance the quality of the user gaming experiences, which makes gamers increasingly happy. In the best case scenarios, rewarded video ads can deliver rewards that extend the user’s play-time, which benefits both the gamer and the developer. Secondly, rewarded video ads work best when they give the user the option to engage with them. This way, the user feels that they themselves have made the decision to exchange their time for watching an ad for a reward. Game apps which provide the option to pay or watch ads receive a 10-15% boost in user reviews. The proportion of mobile users that does conduct in-app purchases is relatively quite small, so it’s advisable to deploy rewarded video ads to convince users about the benefits and value of additional (paid) game features. A comprehensive survey conducted by Facebook reported that 71% of mobile gamers prefer to ‘pay’ for in-game content by watching video ads. The same survey reported that almost half of US gamers prefer rewarded video ad over any other ad format. This all clearly shows that rewarded video ads are hugely popular and effective, as they expose players to paid in-app features, they assist in increasing retention, LTV and more importantly, revenues. The post How Rewarded Video Ads Can Drive In-Game Purchases appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch. Mobile Marketing via Mobile Marketing Watch https://ift.tt/HGJCKG September 26, 2018 at 08:13AM
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What is the Most Effective Tool in Mobile Marketing? https://ift.tt/2OcrFyN Back in the old days of marketing, there was really only a limited way of doing things. Having a website that advertised your products and services was enough to direct potential customers to you. But, as the way consumers moved about online changed – and the way digital channels opened up – there became a multitude of ways to attract customers and to try to get customers onto your website. As we tended towards mobile for how we consumed online sites, to the way online content was optimized, to the increase in social media marketing alongside our traditional marketing efforts all affected change in marketing. But, is content as important as social engagement and even responsive mobile sites? Which tactics and strategies should businesses be focusing on to attract the right audiences? How Useful are Responsive Mobile Sites?Responsive mobile sites should be the cornerstone of any good marketing strategy. While a solid desktop website can be professional, studies show that the number of visits on mobile between 2016 to 2017 rose from 57 per cent to 63 per cent, the mobile bounce rate dropped from 52 per cent to 47 per cent, and time spent on websites from a mobile grew from 40 per cent to 49 per cent. Responsive mobile sites not only give credibility to a business, but unresponsive sites are the fastest way to turn off potential customers. Responsive mobile sites differ from a mobile-friendly site, which simply means it looks good on mobile. Responsive mobile sites create a seamless experience for mobile users, that they would generally expect on a desktop. Easy navigation and a customer journey focused map of the site means that customers can be directed where you want them to go while also fulfilling the reason they came onto your site. The user focused environment created by the responsive website will also aid the business in its SEO efforts for optimizing the website. SEO in recent years has become crucial in how a business drums up customers. Not only is the end product of the website important, but the breadcrumbs left for customers to find the website also plays a large part in how successful it is. How Useful is On-Site Content?Content is one of the biggest marketing buzzwords of recent years, so it stands to reason that there is some importance to it. On-site content not only further shows a customer what your brand is about and what your key marketing messages are, but it also helps position you as an expert in your field through the blog. Infographics and blog posts can be used as references for customers and other likeminded businesses. The more you know about a topic, especially one you purport to be helping a customer with, the more likely they are to choose your business over a competitor. For example, chocolate spread brand Nutella have a segment of their website dedicated to recipes using Nutella as a key ingredient. Wink Bingo offer information on bingo terminology, how to play various styles of bingo, and other tidbits of information on their blog. Construction game brand Lego have a variety of videos on their site showing how the finished models look and how they can be used. Clothing retailer Topshop has a section of their website devoted to articles and blogs about style trends and what people should be wearing. Companies can use their on-site content for SEO purposes too, ensuring keywords that would be searched for are delivered in a way that adds meaning for the customer. How Useful is Social Engagement?One of the biggest coups for marketing has been social media. Social media allows marketing messages to be sent out cheaply with a potentially hugely-wide reach. With many different platforms – from Instagram for personal trainers, to Pinterest for wedding planners – businesses can ensure they are showcasing their products and services, sharing their on-site content through posts that deliver meaning and drive engagement. Social engagement can even take on a life of its own if a post goes viral or is linked up with an influencer who can help drive further engagement for the brand. Social engagement can also involve a paid element and entire campaigns can be developed with an objective in mind. These can work effectively to ensure the messages are delivered to consumers, goals are achieved, and the money spent on doing so is far less than what may have been done through more traditional methods of marketing such as print advertisements, billboards, or TV spots. Should There Be a Holistic Approach to Marketing?While each approach has its strengths, the only true way to ensure a strong marketing strategy is to implement all aspects. Responsive mobile websites work in tandem with referrals from social media. 61 per cent of people in the United States view social media from their mobile phone, meaning that’s where they are likely to see the link to your website. Complete the customer journey by directing them from the social media with a clever and engaging strategy to the responsive website. If both are engaging and working well enough, they should create a positive business profile in the mind of the customer. This can be furthered through the use of useful and informative content. Good uses of text and graphics, not to mention video, can ensure that any doubts potential customers may have are obliterated and they choose your business to complete their transaction. When it comes to marketing, there is no single fix solution for a good strategy. While a responsive mobile site – and desktop site – customers get a taste for your business and your professionalism and ability to fulfill their needs. With on-site content, you can position yourself as an expert in your field and provide valuable information to keep the customer happy. With social media marketing you can disseminate your marketing messages further and wider and for little cost. Ultimately, applying all three strategies at once is the best way to create a solid and effective marketing plan. The post What is the Most Effective Tool in Mobile Marketing? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch. Mobile Marketing via Mobile Marketing Watch https://ift.tt/HGJCKG September 26, 2018 at 08:13AM Teen Talk https://ift.tt/2xQo9A0 Online and offline conversations are estimated to drive almost one-fifth of consumer sales in the US. As marketers turn their attention to Gen Z, it pays to know what they’re talking about, especially as a new report from Engagement Labs reveals that they have 35% more product conversations daily than adults ages 21 and older (13.4 vs. 9.9), from Data Engagement Labs and Marketing Charts.
insights from the study that defines teens/Gen Z as people ages 13-20. Teen Tech Talk Shifts to Popular Services and Devices Compared to 2013, fewer teens are talking about less-portable brands, such as Toshiba, Microsoft and Asus. Despite the continued popularity of gaming as a leisure activity among youth, teens are talking less about Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStations, says the report, reflecting the rise to prominence of mobile gaming platforms. Popular services and devices are capturing the attention of today’s teens enough to warrant a conversation, says the report. More than twice as many talk about Amazon (+127%) and Facebook (+115%) as did 5 years ago, though one in 3 teens thinks Facebook is for “old people.” Meanwhile, more teens are also talking now about brands including the iPhone, iTunes, Google, and Android, reinforce the importance of mobile devices in their day-to-day lives. Apple Dominates the Conversation 31% of teenagers talk about Apple-owned brands on a daily basis. Indeed, says the report, Apple-owned brands occupy the top 2 spots in the list of Gen Z’s most talked-about brands. 18% of teens talk about the iPhone on an average day, representing an 82% increase from 2013. Second on the list of Gen Z’s most talked-about brands is Apple itself, as 15% of teens talk about the brand online and/or offline during a typical day. NB: Teens’ love of the iPhone has been demonstrated in other research, too. In its latest “Taking Stock With Teens” survey, Piper Jaffray revealed that 84% of Gen Z will choose the iPhone as their next phone, the highest rate of intent in the survey’s history. Other brands in the most-talked about list include:
Teens Talk About Social Issues… And Shopping The biggest topic of conversation among teens is… schools and education. Fully 58% of Gen Z talks about school on an average day, compared to 18% of adults ages 21 and older.The second-most talked-about topic by teens is shopping, with more doing so daily than adults ages 21 and up (39% and 32%, respectively). Beyond these leading topics, the data shows that Gen Z is talking about social issues, often at a rate greater than the adult (21+) population. For example:
The only issue highlighted that they’re far less likely to speak about than adults is Healthcare. Destination Retail, Auto Down; Restaurants Up Finally, the report highlights a few other category trends. Teens are talking a lot more about restaurants than they were five years ago. Conversation levels have at least tripled for Baskin & Robbins and Del Taco, and more than doubled for Domino’s Pizza and California Pizza Chicken. McDonald’s has seen a 2% dip in the number of teens talking about it daily since 2013. Other quick-service restaurants – Wendy’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King – join McDonald’s in depressed conversation levels. Finally, unlike restaurants where the preponderance of conversation is trending upwards, auto brands are largely seeing declines in conversation. That’s true for Chrysler, Lexus, Dodge, Volkswagen, Ford, and many others. Those that have been able to transcend that trend include Lamborghini, Jeep, Ferrari and Jaguar, while Tesla is the only one to see a doubling in conversation levels. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 26, 2018 at 05:36AM
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Is Anybody Out There? How to Get More Eyes On Your Blog Content https://ift.tt/2QXN8Kx What’s more important than creating great blog content? What’s more important than writing with empathy, storytelling, and research? What’s more important than even knowing your audience better than they know themselves? Amplification. Stay with me. If you’re a content marketing writer like me, amplification is the less sexy part of the job. The rewarding part, the part that matters, is writing that amazing, useful content. I’d much rather build glittering cathedrals of words that compel people to read by the sheer power of my prose. The trouble is, there are thousands of people out there writing amazing blogs. There is a ton of wonderful, beautiful pieces of content out there. And the only way people will find your blog is if you bring them to it. Without amplification built into your content marketing strategy, your blog is a diamond buried five miles beneath the surface of the earth. It’s pretty! It’s valuable! But it’s not doing anyone any good. So, how are we content marketers doing with blog amplification? Are we using every channel? Getting the most mileage out of every paid service? Bringing in beaucoup eyeballs for the content we spend so much time creating? Well, no. According to a recent report from Outreach Plus, we all have some room for improvement. Of the 500 business they surveyed, at least half are leaving money on the table. Here’s how to amp up your blog amplification. How to Unleash the Potential of Your Blog Content#1: Put Your Social Promotion on Repeat. Also, Put Your Social Promotion on Repeat.Repetition on social media is key, but it looks like the majority of marketers are holding back. Less than half of those surveyed posted the same blog post link more than twice on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Pinterest. Most marketers are posting to Twitter more than twice, but that platform is the outlier. Photo Credit: Outreach Plus It’s important to remember two key points about every social media site:
#2: Explore More Paid ChannelsThe survey also shows that marketers could stand to explore more paid promotion options. Sixty-three percent said they promote some posts on Facebook, while only 29% said they used Google Ads. Less than 2% said they used promoted tweets or LinkedIn ads. Our experience as an agency has shown it’s wise to at least test on every channel. The results might surprise you. For B2B, LinkedIn* is one to bring to the top of the testing list, both through paid ads and as a spot for native-published content. The CPC on LinkedIn can be higher than other channels, but the quality of leads tend to be higher. It’s worth experimenting to see if your most valued audience is there; if you’re B2B, they likely are. But remember, the success of your paid efforts is rooted in your content. The blog content that you promote has to be good, it has to be relevant, and it has to resonate. [bctt tweet="Remember, any blog content that you pay to promote has to be good, it has to be relevant, and it has to resonate. #ContentPromotion" username="toprank"]#3: Invest in EmailSome 39% of marketers surveyed promote every blog post to their email list. A whopping 22% either don’t have a list or don’t ever use it to promote content, while 39% promote sometimes. In other words, the majority of marketers are missing out. Email marketing is the Helen Mirren of marketing tactics. Yes, it’s older than most of our other tactics, but it’s somehow better than it was even a decade ago. via GIPHY Every marketer with blog content to promote should be building a subscriber list and serving it great, preferably personalized, content. As social media gets more and more stingy about letting you talk to your audience, that subscriber list is crucial. Focus on converting your traffic to subscribers; get them opted-in, invested, and onto your blog.#4: Get Proactive with OutreachNineteen percent of marketers said they never reach out to people or websites mentioned in a post. Repetition is key, so let me type that again, bold it, and italicize it. I’m in awe of the fact that one-fifth of marketers are missing so big of an opportunity. Nineteen percent of marketers said they NEVER reach out to people or websites mentioned in a post. In addition, 41% said they only outreach sometimes. That leaves only 41% who are doing their due diligence with outreach. First, you need to mention people and websites in your post. Use them for third-party verification, credibility, and to highlight the contributions they’re making in your industry. Use inspiring quotes you’ve curated from thought leaders. Maybe, I don’t know, write a blog post about an insightful industry report someone did. ? Once your content goes live, let those people know. You’re paying them a compliment, helping promote their work, and showcasing their expertise. Of course they’ll want to know about your content. Not only might they help promote the post, you might also be starting a relationship that leads to an opportunity to co-create content with an influencer.#5: Measure & OptimizeHere’s another statistic that should give you a stomachache: 10% of marketers are not tracking their promotion efforts at all. Not even the most cursory glance at Google Analytics. That’s right, one in 10 marketers has no idea how their content is doing. The majority of marketers are only looking at top-level metrics like traffic and social media shares to determine effectiveness. Photo Credit: Outreach Plus There is some value in these so-called “vanity metrics,” especially compared to not tracking at all. But there’s far more value to be had from measuring against meaningful KPIs and optimizing over time. Measure your influencer shares. Use tracking URLs to measure how each influencer’s shares perform. Measure shares from different platforms. Compare paid versus organic. Go deeper than traffic and measure the signals that affect your search engine ranking, like time on page and bounce rate. Measure and report, but don’t stop there. Optimize your blog content that’s not meeting your KPIs. Is the bounce rate high? Adjust your title and meta description to more accurately describe the post. Time on page low? Front-load your content with the good stuff, add a mid-piece CTA, and make sure it’s optimized to pull readers through to the end. Measurement and optimization are not optional. For our team, they’re one of the most critical parts of the process. We want to continually sharpen our marketing, honing in on the combination of tactics, channels, content and audience that gets the best results. Without measurement — and measuring the right things — that kind of improvement is impossible. [bctt tweet="Measure and report, but don’t stop there. Optimize your blog content that’s not meeting your KPIs. - @NiteWrites #ContentPromotion #Blogging" username="toprank"]Maximize the Potential of Your Blog ContentDespite the content crunch, your organization’s blog is still a valuable place to engage potential customers. But it’s not enough to write great stuff and call it a day. If you’re doing it right, you will likely spend more time amplifying a post than you did writing it. That’s as it should be. With the right promotion, one piece of content can do the work of 10 unamplified posts, educating your audience, building thought leadership, and nurturing prospects throughout their buying journey. Need more ways to make sure your content gets seen? Check out these 50 content promotion tactics from a content marketing master. *Disclosure: LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.The post Is Anybody Out There? How to Get More Eyes On Your Blog Content appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing via Hubspot https://ift.tt/2wiHYzh September 26, 2018 at 05:29AM Salesforce Opens Dreamforce Conference On Assertive Note, Despite Protests https://ift.tt/2N0Tju7 Salesforce opened its Dreamforce event by announcing several new products and upgrades for use by email marketers and brands in general — in a heated environment. The event in San Francisco has drawn 171,000 registrants. But it has also attracted immigrant rights activists, who are displaying an "800-pound, 14-by-10-foot cage to protest the detention of asylum seekers at the U.S. border,” according to Fast Company. At the same time, the company announced that Salesforce.org is donating $18 million toward Bay Area education, homelessness and cleanliness. The upgrades to the firm’s Customer Success platform include Salesforce Customer 360, a platform that will allow admins to connect Salesforce apps and manage customer data across clouds with a click-based user interface, the firm says. Also being offered is MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, an application network graph that provides information on all systems, apps and their metadata and how they interrelate. And Einstein Voice will empower users to talk to Salesforce and navigate cloud services, the firm adds. advertisement advertisement Another new tool, Quip Slides, provides users with a single “canvas” for collaboration without forcing them to toggle between apps, the firm continues. In addition, Salesforce has announced a strategic partnership with Apple, marrying CRM and iOS. Salesforce says it is redesigning its app to embrace the native mobile platform and adding new features on iOS. The firm has also expanded its alliance with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to allow customers to share and synchronize data across AWS and Salesforce services. Founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff welcomed attendees by saying they need new tools and skills to “thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Meanwhile, Dreamforce has drawn activists from Fight for the Future, Color of Change, Demand Progress and Defending Rights. Some have signed an open letter protesting the firm’s arrangement with the U.S. Border Patrol, which was announced in March. In July, Benioff tweeted: “Our employees asked me to review how CBP uses us & I included them…Salesforce doesn’t work with CBP regarding separation of families at the border. We dont have an agreement with ICE.” When queried, a Salesforce spokesperson referred MediaPost to that statement. In August, Benioff joined other members of the Business Roundtable, including Apple’s Timothy D. Cook and JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, in signing a letter charging that U.S. immigration policies threaten the livelihoods of skilled foreign workers, and the nation’s economic growth, according to The New York Times. Benioff and his wife Lynne recently announced they are acquiring Time magazine for $190 million.
Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 25, 2018 at 03:14PM IBM Launches Watson-Based AI Platforms For Advertising, Marketing https://ift.tt/2N1zov8 IBM on Tuesday introduced technology based on artificial intelligence for advertising, marketing, automotive, customer service, human resources, supply chain, and other industries. The “pre-trained” tools and services are based on Watson. The AI-powered solutions aim to help optimize marketing campaigns, streamline workflows, and improve conversion rates. The platform is called Watson Assistant for Marketing and WEATHERfx Footfall with Watson. Both use data elements including weather and location and integrate with compound data products such as custom audiences. The tools aims to cut down the time it takes for marketers to analyze the data. According to Gartner, marketing analysts can spend between 20 and 30 hours of their work week corralling data. advertisement advertisement David Kenny, SVP IBM Cognitive Solutions, acknowledges that marketers are “overwhelmed” by the amount of data and information they deal with, but AI now proves to minimize the frustration. Ingersoll Rand, a diversified industrial manufacturing company, recently applied Watson Assistant for Marketing to its marketing strategy to help streamline its workflows and quickly gained campaign insights across data sources all in a single view -- allowing it to analyze the decision made for each campaign. Subway taped into IBM’s WEATHERfx Footfall with Watson—a new AI ad solution specifically designed to help drive in-store traffic by optimizing marketing campaigns. The company wanted to drive the connection between weather and QSR foot traffic to create awareness of its $4.99 Footlong promotion through The Weather Channel mobile app. The campaign drove 15% higher in-store visits with WEATHERfx Footfall with Watson targeting driving a 31% lift, and became 49% more effective in reaching and driving new or existing consumers into store locations after they saw the ad. Targeting 7.9 million impressions, the technology drove a 53% reduction in campaign waste through WEATHERfx targeting with 7.9 million impressions, according to the companies. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 25, 2018 at 03:08PM Flipboard Adds New Verticals, Including Advertising, To App Design https://ift.tt/2xOHvW9 Flipboard has designed five new verticals for its app, including one for advertising and marketing professionals. Called “franchises,” the five categories get their own brand designs and sections. They include: "The Daily Edition," "10 for Today," "Vote 2018," "The Culturist" and "The Insight," for those in the ad and media industries. Before the franchises launched today, they looked similar to other content on Flipboard, a platform that allows publishers to produce digital content in magazine-like formats that can be shared by users. The new layouts are built on a black background with a “hero image” and an introduction to the franchise. Inside each franchise, articles and videos are organized with a story arc — a beginning, middle and end. This gives Flipboard’s team the ability to feature curation by publisher partners and provide introductions to each section. advertisement advertisement For example, the “Vote 2018” franchise sections were created "with a narrative arc in mind so that readers are fully caught up by the end of the franchise and ready to take action, such as registering to vote,” according to the company. The franchise has dedicated sections for political candidates and analysis, as well as for content from Flipboard publisher partners such as The Washington Post, The New York Times and Axios. Earlier this year, Flipboard launched Tech as its first “vertical” curated by Flipboard. When it started to do the same for the ad and marketing industry, it became one of the franchises that got its own brand design, which was released today. The franchises organize stories around popular categories and give brands a way to reach audiences with specific interests — such as culture or politics — by sponsoring space in the platform. Some of the franchises will reach beyond the app. “The Culturist” franchise will send an email newsletter to its followers on Saturdays and Tuesdays with entertainment and culture topics. “The Daily Edition," one of the broader categories, is dedicated to Flipboard's news curation of the biggest news stories of the day. It has dedicated sections on news and politics, business, tech, sports and celebrity news. “10 For Today” grew from Flipboard’s newsletter with the same name. It is a collection of 10 interesting stories chosen by Flipboard’s editors. Flipboard is one of the top five referral partners on mobile, according to Parse.ly data. It added more publishers onto the platform in the first half of 2018 than in all of 2017. The platform has 145 million monthly users. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 25, 2018 at 12:29PM OAAA Taps Industry Icons, Young Guns To Support OOH https://ift.tt/2xSg51U The Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) is using the voices of ad industry icons to tout out-of-home media's advantages in the digital world. The "Get Out Of Home" creative, developed with Publicis NY, shows quotes alongside their images, such as Barton F. Graf’s Gerry Graf stating "OOH is all media." Other featured in the campaign include Publicis New York’s Andy Bird and Stan Richards of The Richards Group. Younger creatives with strong social media followings, such as Anomaly's Jezz Chung and Facebook's Marta Llop, are also in the campaign to illustrate how digital media can help transform how the ad industry understands OOH. All ads end with the #GetOutofHome hashtag. “We want to show them some ideas are too big to stay trapped online," says Stephen Freitas, CMO, OAAA. "Bold ideas need a bold platform.” Timed to coincide with NYC's Advertising Week, the campaign will be featured on more than 50,000 OOH units, including 27 digital screen networks, in 30 major U.S. markets, including NYC, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. advertisement advertisement This wide-ranging media strategy is supported by OAAA members. Production company Grand Visua has adapted and will deliver creative to national digital OOH networks. Dot2Dot is delivering content to the official Advertising Week venue screens, provided by Formetco and National Mobile Billboard. OOH media and production for the campaign have been donated by an array of companies, including Clear Channel Outdoor, Cleveland Outdoor, JCDecaux, Lamar Advertising, and OUTFRONT Media. This is the first creative since Publicis NY landed the account last May. The organization represents more than 90% of the U.S. OOH industry based on revenues. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 25, 2018 at 12:29PM |
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