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Elevate B2B Content: Learn From Our Top 10 Content Marketing Posts https://ift.tt/QgnI419 What were the top B2B content marketing articles that published on the TopRank Marketing blog this year? Content encompasses nearly everything we read, watch, or listen to, and as our CEO Lee Odden said years ago, it also represents a significant part of the reason the need for search technology began in the first place. We're proud of the continued content marketing successes our team of marketers at TopRank Marketing have achieved during another unique year, for a wide-range of major B2B clients. As 2023 draws ever closer, we wanted to take time to share our top 10 content marketing articles of the year — each filled with insights, best practices, research, examples, and a look at the future. We're also fortunate to have a wealth of talented B2B marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank B2B Marketing blog — which will celebrates its 20th year in 2023. This selection of our top 10 content marketing posts of the year can serve as a valuable resource, filled with practical examples and relevant topics for digital B2B marketing professionals from CMOs to creators and copywriters. We hope that you'll find these articles useful well into 2023 and far beyond. Now, sit back and join us as we move on to the top 10. Our Most Popular Content Marketing Posts of 2022:1. Fast-Forward: 4 Business Problems Solved by B2B Content Marketing — Joshua NiteIn our top content marketing post of the year, our senior content marketing manager Joshua Nite shares how content can help build relationships, purpose, empathy and more. Businesses face unique problems connecting with buyers, and B2B content marketing is well-positioned to solve more of them that you might think. You can check out all of Josh's posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“Be a caring companion to your audience. After all, marketers are the keepers of data — we know these people and what they’re struggling with. We’re in a unique position to create uplifting content.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]2. The Business Case for Awesome B2B Content — Joshua NiteWhat is the business case for creatively awesome B2B content? In our second most popular content marketing post of the year, Joshua shares how awesome content with smart amplification gets results, including four convincing examples that show why awesome is better for B2B. [bctt tweet="“Awesome content doesn’t overwhelm the story you’re telling the audience — in fact, it makes your message more likely to stick.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]3. Triple Take: How to Make B2B Content Marketing More Influential, Authentic, and Credible — Nick NelsonWhen content is credible, authentic, and influential, it’s built to achieve any B2B marketing objective. In our third most popular content marketing article of the year, our senior content marketing manager Nick Nelson examined what the data and experts in our comprehensive 59-page 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report had to say about making it happen. You can check out all of Nick's posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“The #B2BIMReport from @TopRank found that relevance and trust outweigh expertise in terms of essential influencer qualities. It’s all about connection. #B2BInfluencerMarketing.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"]4. The Gated Content Dilemma in B2B Marketing: Here Are the Best Practices — Joshua NiteQ: How many lead gen marketers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Please fill out the form below and we will email you the punchline. In our fourth most-read B2B content marketing article of the year, Joshua Nite shares best practices for when you should put your best content behind a lead generation form, and when you definitely shouldn't. [bctt tweet="“It’s not just about gated vs. ungated. It’s about how much content you gate, which content in the campaign should go behind that lead gen form, and how you bring the right audience to the content.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]5. B2B Content Marketing: Making Small Budgets Do Big Things — Nick NelsonWhen marketing budgets are reduced, waste can be more costly than ever. Make sure you’re steering clear of inefficiency, as our own Nick Nelson shared in our fifth most popular content marketing post of the year, offering up five key pointers to make the most of limited resources. [bctt tweet="“The most reliable way to drive marketing results is to smartly invest more. This can lead to more ambitious campaigns and more robust promotion. But when a big budget isn’t available, B2B marketers can still do big things.” @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"]6. Top 25 B2B Content Marketing Influencers and Experts To Follow #CMWorld 2022 — Lane R .EllisIn our sixth most popular content marketing article of the year, we shared 25 top B2B content marketing influencers and experts to follow and learn from, including:
7. 5 Ways to Build B2B Content That Resonates With Your Audience, and Why They Work — Harry MackinB2B Marketing has a content problem: decision makers are starting to tune it all out. The bad news? The problem isn’t them, it’s us. The better news? We can fix it, and it won’t even be that hard. In the seventh most read content marketing piece of the year, our own content strategist Harry Mackin shares five ways to build better B2B content that resonates with your audience, and why they work You can check out all of Harry's posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“Great thought leadership works because it doesn’t stand alone. It’s contextual, it’s engaged with the industry and moment in which it was written, and, above all, it’s actionable.” — Harry Mackin" username="toprank"]8. The Secrets of Creating Inspired B2B Content Experiences, Revealed — Nick NelsonB2B marketers have grown accustomed to selling with facts instead of stories, and leading with features instead of outcomes. In our eighth most-read content content marketing post of the year, Nick takes a close look at one of our CEO Lee Odden's most popular presentations that illustrated why that just doesn’t work anymore. [bctt tweet="“Use emotion, storytelling, and soundtrack to grab attention in a way that will resonate with all category buyers.” — @Tyrona #B2Bcontent #storytelling #CMworld" username="toprank"]9. Content Contemplations: How We Process Information & Why B2B Marketers Must Craft Content That Elevates — Lane R. EllisHow can B2B marketers craft content that elevates, and what role do our preferred digital formats play in making it happen? Recent study data looking at content formats has deep implications when it comes to creating online experiences that will not only be noticed, but delight the senses while also answering our most important questions. By understanding how we process information, we can craft content in formats that elevate, inspire, and answer key questions. In our ninth most popular content marketing post of the year, I dug in with data from three recent studies. [bctt tweet="“Understanding the human brain, with its exquisitely complex computational and filtering mechanisms, can go a long way towards learning the types of content that can perform the best in B2B marketing.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]10. Here, There & Everywhere: What Does Best-Answer Content Mean For B2B Marketers in 2022? — Lane R. EllisWhat does today's best-answer B2B marketing content look like? Providing that best solution — or to use the term our CEO and co-founder Lee Odden has been using since at least 2011 — being the best answer, may indeed be a singular solution, however the effort that B2B marketers need to make in 2022 to achieve it has changed in several important ways. From expanding digital channel touch-points and collaborating with experts to elevating with authenticity, and presenting in experiential formats and more, I took a look at today's best-answer B2B content to round our our list of the top content marketing article of the year. [bctt tweet="“If you want to be a trustworthy company, it can’t be just a marketing philosophy. It has to be a business philosophy.” — Margaret Magnarelli @mmagnarelli of @MorganStanley" username="toprank"]Thanks TopRank Marketing Readers & WritersThanks to you our readers, and to all of our top content marketing authors for contributing this strong group of the 10 content marketing posts of 2022. We published dozens of posts this year specifically about the unique nature of B2B content marketing, and plan to bring you even more in 2023, so stay tuned for a new year of the latest helpful search industry research and relevant insight. Please let us know which content marketing topics and ideas you'd like to see us focus on for 2023 — we'd love to hear your suggestions. Feel free to leave those thoughts in the comments section below. Many thanks to each of you who read our blog regularly, and to all of you who comment on and share our posts on the TopRank Marketing social media channels at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.The post Elevate B2B Content: Learn From Our Top 10 Content Marketing Posts appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing,SEO via Hubspot https://ift.tt/ZT73vCQ December 28, 2022 at 05:55AM
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Almost All IT Pros Are Concerned About Data Security https://ift.tt/MRTX9ou Almost 100% of IT experts are concerned about data security over the next 12 months, with 43% saying they are very concerned or extremely concerned. And many of them are worried about the safety of their email systems, according to the 2022 Cybersecurity Year in Review, a study by Craig Business Intelligence, sponsored by RSA Conference. They are nervous about the following:
advertisement advertisement What are companies doing to counter these threats? They are conducting:
In general, professionals are worried about:
Of those polled, 90% are no using anti-virus/anti malware technology, and 6% are planning it. Also included are::
This part of the extended research was conducted in August 2022. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/oEhUKnG December 27, 2022 at 08:02PM Dreaming Up Emails: The Rudiments Of Good Design https://ift.tt/RdPM1An Successful email design is based on three C’s: creative, content and coding, according to 2023 Trends in Email Design, a how-to study by Data Axle. Specifically, this means that creative must be fresh, simple and to the point, coding responsive and readable, with images-off, and content value-added. To illustrate this agenda, the study lists several email campaigns that can serve as potential models. One is the template system utilized by Spartan, the athletic endurance company. For instance, one screen features the Workout of the Day: Strength. "Hosted fonts over expansive background images embodies the ‘can-do’ spirit that Spartan is known for," the study says. "Loads of sticky content about recipes and workouts adds value and keeps racers opening and engaged." Then there is Marriott Rewards, which modernized its brand with a new campaign slogan, "You Are Here." "This template overhaul represents the best of modern email design: HTML headlines floating over background images, mobile image swaps, CSS drop shadows, CTA hovers, and custom fonts," the study notes. advertisement advertisement Marriott provides another winning template system for its Marriott Traveler. The hotel chain "regularly publishes fascinating travel articles and this master template system was designed to read like an editorial travel magazine. Full of useful and interesting content, this travel newsletter enjoys strong open and engagement from its readers." Another hostelry, Choice Hotels, employs “bold colors and energetic photography, plus unique touches such as mouse-over effects on buttons and web-fonts. For even more engagement, a dynamic user-activity bar appears as the second module in all monthly newsletters.” West Marine takes a different approach: It uses both targeted email and direct mail postcards to "drive purchases from former customers who have gone quiet." Paypal uses a simple design for its transaction template system. This "email workhorse notifies users of all transactions in a clean, simple interface." For example: "You paid $38 to Merchant XYZ." Meanwhile, Community Coffee serves up a "delicious welcome series campaign to new subscribers. This series of emails informs users and gathers more information about them that allows further customization of the emails they will receive." And eBay took the approach "I sell, so I can…" The study notes that this campaign rejected common stock photography and instead "found actual sellers and featured them and the reasons why they sell on eBay, such as travel, art or family." The study can be found here.Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/oEhUKnG December 27, 2022 at 08:02PM
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Kochava Urges Judge In Massachusetts To Throw Out Privacy Class-Action https://ift.tt/NxgWzoj Mobile data broker Kochava is asking a federal judge to throw out a class-action complaint brought in Massachusetts over claims that the company discloses smartphone users' locations. In papers filed late last week, Kochava, based in Sandpoint, Idaho, argues that the case shouldn't proceed for several reasons -- including that the company lacks “significant” connections to Massachusetts, and that the user who sued can't establish she was harmed by the alleged geolocation tracking. Kochava “does not have continuous and systematic contacts in Massachusetts,” the company writes in papers filed with U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani in Boston. Kochava adds that it doesn't have a corporate mailing address in Massachusetts, and that it doesn't currently have any personnel in the state, and that only five of its 170 employees previously worked in Massachusetts. The data broker also says that Julie Maattala, who filed the complaint, “has not suffered any injury, much less one that occurred in Massachusetts or caused by Kochava by conduct committed or directed here.” advertisement advertisement Maattala does not allege “that unknown third parties tracked her to sensitive locations,” the company writes. Kochava's argument comes in response to a lawsuit initially brought by Maattala in September, and revised last month. She alleges that the company obtains and sells precise location data that originates with mobile apps, in violation of a Massachusetts consumer protection law that prohibits unfair or deceptive business practices. Maattala's lawsuit, like a separate class-action complaint brought against Kochava in California, came soon after the Federal Trade Commission sued the company for allegedly selling consumers' precise location data. The FTC specifically alleged in its complaint that Kochava sells “timestamped latitude and longitude coordinates showing the location of mobile devices,” as well as mobile advertising IDs -- unique identifiers that persist, unless consumers reset them. While the mobile advertising identifiers are pseudonymous, the FTC alleged that they can reveal people's actual identities. For example, the FTC said, some data brokers say they can match mobile identifiers with names and physical addresses. Kochava -- which is separately fighting the FTC's case and the California lawsuit -- has repeatedly argued its latitude and longitude coordinates don't in themselves identify anyone. The company reiterates that contention in the papers it filed late last week in Boston. “Kochava’s collection of raw latitude/longitude data is not egregious or extreme conduct; latitude/longitude coordinates are data points which, without more, do not uniquely identify end users,” the company writes. Kochava also argues that its data comes from app developers who only obtain the geoinformation if consumers consent to share it. “Plaintiff incurred a benefit for allowing access to her geo data,” Kochava writes. “Plaintiff received a benefit because she enjoyed the use of the mobile application in exchange for her consent.” Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/oEhUKnG December 27, 2022 at 08:02PM
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AT&T 5G Celebrates College Football Fanatics https://ift.tt/hXvmlEp AT&T 5G knows college-football fans are obsessive. So in partnership with BBDO LA and Critical Mass, it created a national campaign — "Too Much College Football is Never Too Much” — to celebrate extreme fandom. Hearts & Science is the media agency. "The Launch" spot features astronauts delaying their space shuttle in order see Notre Dame's final play. The ad for AT&T 5G will run throughout the college-football playoffs. advertisement advertisement Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/oEhUKnG December 27, 2022 at 02:16PM
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ESPN+ Hits 24.3M Subscribers, As Spin Off Predictions Continue https://ift.tt/Gia5QTB Subscriptions to ESPN+ have hit 24.3 million, up from 17.1 million at year-end 2021, as predictions of a spinoff by parent Disney continue. Earlier in 2022, Disney's then-CEO, Bob Chapek, fended off pressure from activist investor firm Third Point LLC, led by Dan Loeb, to spin off ESPN+. Loeb argued that such a move would “attract shareholders seeking the respective qualities of each company, allowing the Disney parent multiple to expand as its earnings growth rate increases and the remaining business is no longer haunted by the specter of cord-cutting.” Disney, which yields substantial revenue from its bundle of ESPN and other cable channels, and ESPN on ABC, does not currently offer livestreamed ESPN coverage through ESPN+ -- presumably in part to protect that bundle. Bob Iger, who recently returned as CEO after Chapek was pushed out following poor Q3 earnings results, has also resisted an ESPN+ spinoff in the past, although, in 2017, he said that Disney would at some point likely offer the entire ESPN package direct to consumers. advertisement advertisement However, in a note last week, Wells Fargo analysts said they consider a spinoff of ESPN and ABC a "reasonably probable last-'23 event." “A spun ESPN/ABC would take the step as its path to the future, and improve its position when negotiating with leagues for future rights," they wrote. Of course, at present, ESPN+ is also a critical component of the streaming bundle, with Disney+ and Hulu, which has driven much of the company's direct-to-consumer growth -- although Disney's impending acquisition of Hulu shares currently owned by Comcast opens a number of new strategic directions for the company. The Wells Fargo analysts argue that an ESPN/ABC spinoff would give Disney "the operational flexibility to move into [direct-to-consumer]," and focus on how to monetize ESPN sports, "unencumbered by the bigger pictures facing Disney, like how to position streaming content, bundle services like Hulu and Disney+, managing linear networks' OIBDA [operating income before depreciation and amortization] to keep the balance sheet stronger into the Hulu put, etc.," they added. "We think some of [Disney’s] resistance to take ESPN fully a la carte up to now is these other issues.” Meanwhile, ESPN is also reporting strong audience performance across its other platforms. The brand’s digital platforms are averaging 106.7 million unique visitors per month, up 3% from a year ago. On television, 2022 marks the ninth consecutive year that ESPN is the No. 1 cable network in prime time across all key adult demographics (P18-34, P18-49, P25-54). It is also the 31st consecutive year of ESPN being the No. 1 cable network for men 18-34 and 18-49, and the 13th consecutive year it has ranked No. 1 among people 18 to 34 and 18 to 49. Year-to-date through Dec. 18, ESPN’s TV audience was up by 8% year-over-year among viewers two years and older and by 5% among those 18 to 49. Its prime-time viewership among those audiences were up 14% and 12%, respectively for the same period. ESPN’s Monday Night Football viewership for the season’s first 13 weeks averaged 13.4 million per game. The average matched 2021’s and was up by more than 6% from each season going back to 2016. College football coverage ended up 22% versus 2021’s season—its best performance since 2016. ESPN Digital set new U.S. sports category records in both September (122.7 million unique visitors) and October (122.8 million). In addition, the ESPN app continues to lead all other sports apps in the U.S. in reach, with 4.2 times more users than the next most popular sports app, and up 10% versus 2021’s reach. The app set a U.S. record for U.S. sports mobile apps in September, with 29.5 million unique visitors, and recorded its two best days to date on Sept. 10 and 11, reaching 13.1 million and 12.6 million unique users, respectively. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/oEhUKnG December 27, 2022 at 11:42AM
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Elevate B2B Search: Optimize Your 2023 With Our Top 10 SEO Posts https://ift.tt/RJNtCiY Search marketing has elevated and grown in numerous ways throughout 2022. At each of the shifts and changes in the search marketing landscape along the way, we've done our best to not only cover each twist and turn, but to also offer relevant insight and research-based strategy that will help B2B marketers meet the increasing challenges placed in front of us. We're fortunate to have a wealth of talented B2B marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank Marketing blog covering the state of search marketing — which will celebrate its 20th year in 2023. To help our blog community grow its search marketing knowledge, we’re thrilled to offer our annual list of the most popular search marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) posts of 2022 we've published throughout the year. Our Most Popular Search Marketing Posts in 2022:1. Conference Collection: Top B2B Marketing Events To Learn From In 2022 — Lane R. EllisWhat are some of the top events, conferences and industry trade shows — whether virtual, in-person, and hybrid — for B2B marketers to learn from this spring and beyond? In our most popular search marketing related post of 2022, we shared over 40 search, influencer, content marketing, and related B2B marketing conferences. Marketing conferences offer a true wealth of benefits to marketers seeking the latest learning, new networking opportunities, and the latest industry research and insight to increase brand awareness, but sometimes finding events that match your business and B2B search marketing needs can be challenging. You can check out all of my posts here, and follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“We’re all the same size rectangle on the Zoom screen.” — Vanessa Colella of @Citi" username="toprank"]2. 10+ Top Content & Search Marketing Insights from MnSearch Summit 2022 — Nick NelsonIn the second most popular search marketing post of the year, our Nick Nelson shared the top SEO and search marketing take-aways for B2B marketers from the MnSearch Summit 2022 MnSEARCH event, featuring:
3. Ongoing Optimization: Strategic SEO Tips For B2B Marketers In 2022 — Lane R. EllisHow can B2B marketers improve their SEO strategies and focus in the fast and furious digital landscape of 2022? From tapping into both the minute and the monumental and utilizing process checklists to keeping track of industry best-practice changes, in the number three spot on our top search marketing posts of 2022 list, we shared a collection of top tips to help B2B marketers improve SEO focus and strategy. The more aligned your organization’s SEO and marketing efforts can become, the greater their combined power is — to build and promote content that can reach heights that aren’t possible when using just one of these two important ingredients. [bctt tweet="“SEO is a constant swirling sea of activity. Sometimes this sea is murky and tumultuous, and at others — at least for a brief while — clear and calm.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]4. How the Most Successful B2B Marketers Work with Influencer Marketing Agencies — Lee OddenHow are top marketers successfully working with B2B influencer marketing agencies? In our fourth most popular search marketing post of 2022, our CEO Lee Odden shared new insight and data on how top B2B brands are inspiring customers with powerful B2B influencer marketing agency collaborations. B2B marketers are searching for more than the topic of B2B influencer marketing. They want to find:
5. 5 New Search Opportunities B2B Marketers Need To Know In 2023 — Lane R. EllisWhat do B2B marketers need to know about search in 2023? B2B marketing and search have always had a complex relationship, and 2023 will undoubtedly see new shifts arise in numerous areas, from how search engines deal with human versus AI-generated content, to indexing a partially or fully-siloed metaverse, combating dwindling organic search opportunities, where to best invest paid search advertising dollars, and key SEO fine-tuning challenges. In the fifth most popular search marketing post of 2022, I took a look at each of these opportunities. [bctt tweet="“I think what ultimately works best is that you prove to Google — and users — that the updates you’re providing are valuable: unique, compelling, high-quality, and not something that’s already published elsewhere.” — John Mueller @JohnMu" username="toprank"]6. New Google Search Updates & How B2B Marketers Can Use Them To Elevate Efforts — Lane R. EllisIn 2022 Google has made changes that affect what B2B marketers are able to accomplish with its search and advertising offerings, but how can these sometimes subtle changes be utilized to elevate marketing efforts in the year ahead? Google’s search updates offer B2B marketers new opportunities and challenges. From sustainable crawling and improved guidelines to industry event plans and the evolution of content delivery, In our sixth most popular search marketing post of 2022, I shared five ways to elevate your efforts. [bctt tweet="“B2B marketers can all too easily get caught up in wrapping up content in the flavor-of-the-month social platform or app formatting. It's good to step back and make sure that the actual messaging is relevant.” — @lanerellis" username="toprank"]7. Press Play: How Marketers Who Invest in B2B Video Earn Greater ROI — Lane R. EllisHow is B2B video marketing continuing its ascendancy and generating greater return-on-investment (ROI) than ever — including search — and where are B2B marketers finding the sweet spot when it comes to video success? From the increasing prominence of video in search and social to the growing power of video to tell more memorable stories, in our seventh most-read search marketing article of the year, I shared seven new insights into B2B video. [bctt tweet="“We see that people love videos and authentic images in search results, so we try to show them more.” — John Mueller @JohnMu of @Google" username="toprank"]8. How to Foster a Strong B2B Brand Digital-First Experience That Differentiates — Nick NelsonWhy should B2B marketers dare to be different? The bar is raised for breaking through with B2B customer experiences in this densely-populated digital-first brand landscape, and in our eighth most popular search marketing related post of 2022, Nick shared how to meet the challenge with a collection of insights on the power of differentiating. Yes, we should always aspire to be the best, and that mandate has been ingrained in many of us throughout our careers. But simply aiming to be better means we’re trying to improve upon an existing model or archetype. Is that the path to standing out in an increasingly crowded digital space, amid changing customer expectations? Dive into your search performance data to find any distinct or unexpected keywords that are bringing people to your website. In the complex, competitive, and interconnected world of B2B, identifying your actual points of differentiation is not always straightforward. But doing so holds the key to capitalizing on them. [bctt tweet="“In B2B, identifying your brand’s actual points of differentiation is not always straightforward. But doing so holds the key to capitalizing on them.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN #B2BMarketing" username="toprank"]9. 20 Ways to Build a B2B Marketing Super-Stack of Skills — Lane R. EllisHow can B2B marketers build a super-stack of marketing technology skills — including search and SEO — to create the most value and efficiency in 2023 and beyond? Today’s B2B marketers who possess a wide array of marketing technology skills are more valuable to organizations then ever, as brands look both to increase bottom-line efficiency and retain top talent. Don’t let the complexities that SEO efforts sometimes entail deter you, however, as there are still bountiful and easy-to-achieve benefits for the B2B marketer in many aspects of optimization. From social listening and live-streaming to mentoring, influencer, and search marketing, in our ninth most popular search marketing article of 2022, I share 20 ideas for building a B2B narketing super-stack, [bctt tweet="“Don’t let the complexities that SEO efforts sometimes entail deter you, as there are still bountiful and easy-to-achieve benefits for the B2B marketer in many aspects of optimization.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]10. Faster Frontiers: How Does 5G Technology Affect B2B Marketers? — Lane R. EllisHow will 5G technology change the way B2B marketers tell brand stories, and what new opportunities will the speedier forthcoming mobile standard offer? With impacts that will range from slight in some areas to deeply significant in others, the upcoming rollout of 5G cellular network technology is poised to change how the world of B2B marketing operates. For B2B marketers, the SEO advantages of being compliant with Google’s mobile-first initiatives form a naturally harmonious pairing with the benefits of 5G technology and what it will bring to the table. Rounding out our top ten list of search marketing posts for the year, in this article I shared a look a how 5G technology will affect B2B marketers. [bctt tweet="“5G will unlock a raft of new applications: IoT, process management, and utility metering for enterprise; and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), immersive haptic and 3D holographic experiences for consumers.” — @Kevin_Jackson" username="toprank"]Thanks TopRank Marketing ReadersMany thanks to each of you, our TopRank Marketing blog readers, for reading and learning from us, including these top 10 search marketing posts of 2022. We published many posts this year specifically about search marketing, and plan to continue doing so in 2023, so stay tuned for a new year of the latest relevant search industry research and insight. Please let us know which SEO-related topics and ideas you'd like to see us focus on for 2023 — we'd love to hear your suggestions. Feel free to leave those thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks to each of you who read our blog regularly, and to all of you who comment on and share our posts on the TopRank Marketing social media channels at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.The post Elevate B2B Search: Optimize Your 2023 With Our Top 10 SEO Posts appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing,SEO via Hubspot https://ift.tt/FpurCkn December 26, 2022 at 07:27AM
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Big Country: Zelle Cashes In On DOOH Screens Everywhere https://ift.tt/zJbLok6 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising is about to boom for all of the obvious reasons. LED screens are cheap and light enough to go on any surface. Connectivity is now comprehensive. Mobile tracking schemes make interactivity, measurement, and accountability in the channel ever more sophisticated. DOOH’s potential remains to be seen but from dynamic billboards to gas pumps and charging stations, gym walls and building lobbies, good luck ever feeling off the grid again. As Joshua Fajardo tell us this week, finding the right screens in the right time and place seems to have the power to build top of mind awareness and at the same time compel specific behaviors in well-targeted moments. He is Senior Director of Brand Marketing at Zelle, the payment and money management service that was formed by a number of the major banks. It competes with many of the DTC mobile money apps. You can listen to the entire podcast at this link. advertisement advertisement Josh will join us live at MediaPost’s first Digital Out Of Home Insider Summit on Feb. 19-22 in La Jolla, CA. where we will be exploring with brands like Zelle what they have learned so far about leveraging an emerging country of screens everywhere. MediaPost: Zelle is in that peer-to-peer payment space but is actually structured very differently from Venmo and Cash App. Josh Fajardo: The main differentiator when it comes to Zelle is that it exists in pretty much everyone's bank app. We cover about 99% of Americans today via 1,800 different financial institutions. For these folks who are bank customers Zelle exists within their bank app. So, there's never a need to download a third-party app. And then the thing that we really like to hit on in a lot of our messaging is that when you use Zelle, the money goes directly into your bank account. That's a differentiating point. MP: So, all that said, that means you have a unique branding challenge here, especially against the number of the mobile only apps, some of whom, like a Venmo, or even a Cash App, have become verbs, which itself is a daunting brand challenge. So where is the white space for Zelle? Fajardo: You mentioned two of our core competitors, but the space goes back even further - when eBay launched, having PayPal in there. And you said it right; it's daunting. We have this competitive set that vastly outspends us. We have an inherent benefit in having that big bank network that allows us to create a broad base of reach in and of itself, through bank owned and operated channel. That's an inherent advantage. We have that owner bank communication that really raises our frequency. A challenge for our brand is breaking through that perception that it only exists in my bank app, or for customers of my bank. So, for us the challenge is kind of twofold. It's overcoming that perception of ubiquity, and making sure people know that, hey, almost regardless of where you bank, I can send you money, and it'll go directly in your bank account. To your first point around the competitive set, they're very much in tune, it seems like, with embedding themselves in culture and going after younger audiences. Whereas we want to play more to that unique strength. We have a target audience base; we call them the connected conductors. They're folks who live really busy lives. They have networks whether that's social through work and friends, but also like older parents, that they may have, and they might be parents themselves. For us it has been about figuring out a way to engage those folks who really think of their financial institution pretty fondly. So, the messaging there kind of is twofold. You don't have to worry about downloading another app. And then, in terms of all the bells and whistles, we know that they really value simplicity, and they need to get their tasks done efficiently. So, our service really plays to that strength or to that kind of priority, for those folks where it's like, hey I need to send money and gone into that person's account. I don't have to worry about it much. MP: Even though you had all of these banks behind you, didn’t come in with spray and pray mass media buys. You have been taking a much more targeted approach. Fajardo: Absolutely. The consortium of our owner banks got to be as big as they did through a lot of very efficient means for being very responsible with their spends, and especially when it came to launching a new brand in a hyper competitive space. We did come out with a Super Bowl pregame ad that we ran to try to break through and insert ourselves in that cultural lexicon. But over the course of time, and especially with all the changes that have happened in our economy, we really have to be focused on where we can make the greatest inroads and the biggest ripple effect in terms of recruiting more users into enrolling for the service and actually transacting. But now we are looking at places where we can be really relevant and stay top of mind. So, if you and I are grabbing a drink after this podcast, if you see an out of home, and you're like, oh yeah. The use case is happening in the moment, and this is the top of mind. So, we try to play to that as well as making sure that we're appearing in ways that are meaningful for our target audience. MP: Give us an overview of the ways you use out of home and how you've been evolving towards more digital out of home. Fajardo: We love the channel! Over the five years that we've been promoting this brand, out of home really is consistent in its ability to drive brand metrics all up and down the funnel. So, it tends to be a core of our plans. We start thinking about digital placements as frequency building placements, a variety of both brand messaging but hyper relevant either time of day, venue, location-based messaging that adds to our core brand messaging. This is a logical practical service that's advertising to me. But now reinforcing that messaging through frequency with more in the moment type of messaging that's like, actually, I am at the Kentucky Derby, and this is a funny bit of line copy. And now I make the connection. Of course, I can pay my friend back for those drinks. So, our digital approach did allow us to be more nuanced to particular markets to particular use cases, time of day, in a way that some of our other channels may not have that in the moment type of ability because we love storytelling. We love the emotional connection piece, but we really look at out of home with that added frequency in the moment that would make sense for right now. MP: I do want to talk about the Kentucky Derby example, which is kind of cool, but just generally, as you say, this allows you to move into the markets that don't necessarily have those big splashy placements and impressions. Fajardo: I'll give you a practical example of the change that we've deployed when it comes to digital and programmatic out of home. When we think of driver commuter markets, back a few years ago the most efficient way to get there was to roadside billboards. There's lots of them, and you can really reinforce frequency that way. So, over the past couple of years, with more digital canvases emerging in these commuter markets, we still do roadside billboards, but now it's the street level kiosks. It is screens within apartment complexes. It is some of the high impact units that I mentioned, and we're even talking gym screens at this point. So, there's so many social kinds of areas that folks are spending their time. When I think about the static billboard on the highway, that was great for just reinforcing a brand message. But now we're getting more nuanced to this space. If we're in a city center around lunchtime we're using a lunch use case. If that city center has a music venue around it where we know shows are happening in the evening, that messaging will then flip to concert use cases. So, it's dynamic, and I think for me as a consumer it's always nice when I feel like brands are actually engaged with what I’m doing, and how I’m spending my time. So those types of nuance screens and day part targets are something that's really exciting for us to play with. MP: Would you get that granular in terms of targeting and messaging day parting on a local level? What kind of measurement are you using to measure impact? Fajardo: I feel really fortunate that we've got such a nice suite of tools at our disposal to understand at the brand level and at the business level, are we making the types of inroads that we want to with the audiences that we're going after. And we're talking about brand metrics here, everything from awareness to consideration in time, favorability at the big, broad level. And then for our actual campaigns we work with the third-party platform to understand the different impacts channel across channel, market across market, creative across creative. And that's a little bit tighter in terms of granularity by channel and by creative. But then, when it comes to digital programmatic, our agency has been wonderful in helping us launch their brand studies that do get to the individual market level, creative messaging level. We always want to look at things holistically. Are we making the biggest effects of the biggest audience? But then from a media performance and measurement standpoint being able to say, hey, we're actually not going to be on apartment screens next time you do a programmatic initiative, because that happened to not have done great for us. We'll continuously optimize those plans, but it's great to have that level of detail, because all these markets are so different. All the inventory is so different, like culturally, as we move throughout the country market to market people's values, obviously change a lot. So out of home is a really exciting space for me because it's like the gift that keeps giving in terms of learning markets placements, what people care about, because as a country we're such a broad swath of folks. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/suQrYtj December 23, 2022 at 04:50PM
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Microsoft Defends Proposed $69 Billion Activision Deal To FTC https://ift.tt/zoIpdbN Defending its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision, Microsoft is telling the Federal Trade Commission that the deal will enable the company to be more competitive in the gaming industry -- particularly in mobile gaming. “Microsoft is buying Activision to meet the billions of gamers who choose to play on mobile devices instead of a console or PC, and to learn how to make games that appeal to and engage them,” the company said Thursday in a filing with the FTC. Microsoft also said its Xbox division aims to make Activision’s non-mobile games more broadly available. The company's filing comes in response to the FTC's lawsuit to block the merger. Last month, the agency alleged in an administrative complaint that the deal would enable Microsoft to harm consumers by withholding or degrading Activision's content. If the merger goes through, it would add the popular games Call of Duty and World of Warcraft to Microsoft's existing lineup. advertisement advertisement Microsoft writes in the new filing that it wouldn't make economic sense to prevent other console manufacturers from offering Activision's games. “Xbox cannot afford to take Activision’s games exclusive without undercutting the basic economics of the transaction,” Microsoft writes. “Maintaining broad availability of Activision games is both good business and good for gamers,” the company says, adding that Activision's value to Xbox comes from “business as usual,” including the continued sale of Call of Duty on Sony PlayStation. "Paying $68.7 billion for Activision makes no financial sense if that revenue stream goes away,” Microsoft writes. “Nor would it make sense to degrade the game experience and alienate the millions of Call of Duty players who play together using different types of consoles.” The company also disputes that the merger would harm competition in the industry. “The acquisition of a single game by the third-place console manufacturer cannot upend a highly competitive industry,” Microsoft writes. “That is particularly so when the manufacturer has made clear it will not withhold the game.” Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/suQrYtj December 23, 2022 at 04:50PM
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Women Gamers Experience Rife Sexism While Playing Video Games https://ift.tt/n2v91WC Advertising is a significant source of revenue for mobile video games and is forecast to grow on other kinds of platforms such as game consoles, cloud-based and streamed games and metaverse settings. That growth will be stymied unless video games become friendlier to women consumers, who make most of the … Reminder: You are seeing this premium content because you are a subscriber to MediaPost's Research Intelligencer and/or a member of the Center for Marketing & Media Research. This content cannot be viewed by non-subscribers/non-members. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/suQrYtj December 23, 2022 at 12:50PM |
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