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Unacast Looks to Monetize Its Location Data, Hires ironSource’s Cunningham as CRO

Beacon and proximity data company Unacast announced today that ad industry veteran Chris Cunningham, formerly the Vice President of Revenue for ironSource, is joining the company as chief revenue officer. Cunningham will help formulate a strategy for Unacast to monetize all of the data it aggregates from beacons and sensors.

“No one has solved creating the physical world cookie, a true and accurate identity as relates to an individual and a behavior,” Cunningham told Street Fight. “Up until today, Unacast has been entirely focused on the supply side. Now there’s an opportunity to really understand the data the company is sitting on, and what the commercial opportunities are as that data relates to consumers and brands.”

Cunningham had been an advisor to Unacast, which launched at SXSW last year, for about five months. The Oslo, Norway-based company partnered with Reveal Mobile just last week to tackle the complexities of bridging online and offline by targeting consumers in the real world, and announced a similar partnership with Opera Mediaworks a little more than a month ago. “We are thrilled to have Chris join us and, under his leadership, we look forward to creating new ways to merchandize proximity data, scale our business, and serve the data-driven ad industry,” said Unacast CEO Thomas Walle (who will be a speaker at Street Fight Summit West conference in San Francisco on June 7th) in a release.

Though barely one year old, Unacast is the largest network of its kind in the world and growing rapidly. The hype surrounding beacons has yet to materialize as an approachable marketing strategy for many brands and retailers, but the technology’s massive potential has kept it at the forefront of the location-based advertising conversation. Unacast wants to turn that potential into actionable solutions.

IAB Primer on Ad Blocking for Publishers Leans Toward Carrots Over Sticks

The Interactive Advertising Bureau is a vehement opponent of ad blocking: “It is robbery, plain and simple,” the 20-year-old trade group says, zeroing in on software “profiteers” who, besides targeting users with their “extortionist scheme,” are ”shaking down publishers for payments to circumvent their barriers.” Worse, IAB sees ad blocking as an “existential threat” to the entire advertising business, which now clocks $50 billion worth of sales in the U.S. annually.

But amid all its fire and brimstone, the IAB has another message: “Ad blocking is a crucial wakeup call to brands and all that serve them about their abuse of consumers’ good will. Ad blockers are…exploiting a real vulnerability: the erosion of stimulating consumer experiences online. For this, the marketing-media ecosystem bears real responsibility.”

A big part of this ecosystem is publishers, who are reacting to ad blocking almost in outright panic. What should they do? The IAB Tech Lab set up an “Ad Blocking Working Group” that recently produced a “primer” for publishers that laid out seven options, with the risks and benefits. The agnostic primer even includes “payment to ad-blocking companies,” which the IAB earlier had denounced as a shakedown of publishers.

About 60 publishers and other groups that sell advertising on digital platforms – everybody from ABC TV to GumGum to the National Football League to Tribune Publishing – are part of the Ad Blocking Working Group.

To get behind what the group is doing and what it hopes to accomplish, Street fight put these questions to Scott Cunningham, General Manager of the IAB Tech Lab and Senior Vice President, Technology and Ad Operations, at IAB:

While the working group did not endorse any of the tactics [that it suggested to counter ad blocking], “tiered experience” looks — to me — like the best because, ideally, it would retain audience. Is this a correct inference? “Tiered experience” offers options. Publishers should experiment. Not all tactics are right for every publisher, depending on their audience, as long as the customer and publisher are on the same page of the value exchange for free content.

Does the primer cover display, and video ads? It’s generic for the most part, not particular to any one use case. However, as these tactics mature, there will be evidence for certain use cases over others such as mobile, video, etc.

Scott Cunningham, SVP of Technology and Ad Operations at IAB,

IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg recently said that publishers should “deny entry to people who have ad blockers on,” as reported in Street Fight. But the IAB primer sees this as a “drastic move” that could “alienate the existing audience” and invite it to migrate to other sites. Are there times when publishers should go with denial as a preferred tactic? I think it is a tactic that a publisher needs to make on its own and whether it believes its content quality cannot be found elsewhere. Some publishers can “limit” access under the IAB’s DEAL for consumers, whereas others will “lift” more often than not. As experimentation and learning grows, the solution sets mature as well so the primer outlines many possible tactics and outcomes.

Haven’t most publishers been tackling the ad-blocking issue well before IAB developed its primer? Have the earlier responses had any significant response. If not, is that why IAB developed the primer? Yes. Some have seen increased installations prior to 2015. The pervasiveness of blocking led to heightened activity, which is why we have publishers working to make a “LEAN DEAL” with consumers [that aims to improve user experience by eliminating pre-loaded and “auto-play” ads].

Looking at the long-term relationship between the user, publisher and advertiser — as well as society — has the IAB embraced any realignment of this compact? The public Internet and content distribution have largely been a free model supported by advertising to sustain costs to create and deliver. The only element really missing from offline media was testing user pricing elasticity of demand.

What is happening now is publishers are testing this in the name of user experience to see what users are willing to do to access free content. The value exchange of free content supported by advertising helps keep a public internet open. This, and offering a LEAN user experience, is just good customer service.

The Context for Contextual Marketing Is Changing

Like most people I know, I assume different personas depending on where I am and what I am doing. When I’m out with my family watching a Cubs baseball game on a Saturday afternoon, I’m in “Family Mode.” But if I am hosting a client at a Cubs game on a Wednesday evening, I’m in “Professional Mode.”

The advertisers that try to reach out to me when I’m in Professional Mode need to understand that I’m going to be open to different products than when I’m in Family Mode. When I’m with my kids, I am thinking cotton candy during the 7th-inning stretch. When I’m with my clients, the cotton-candy vendor isn’t getting any of my attention. But I wonder how many marketers understand the dynamic nature of my persona? The question, I think, points to the complicated nature of contextual marketing at a local level.

Contextual marketing is all about tailoring content to someone based on their changing circumstances. The idea behind contextual marketing makes a lot of sense: the Starbucks app should tell me about the great-tasting pumpkin spice lattes in the fall and offer me a free coffee on my birthday based on what the app knows about who I am and what I buy. But in practice, contextual marketing is getting pretty hairy, especially for location-based marketing. That’s because context is getting more complicated.

There are many ways, or contexts, in which a business can know me. Let’s take a look at some of them:

Where You Are For enterprises that operate multiple locations, customizing offers based on location at first sounds like a gimme. A department store chain with locations in New York and Chicago must vary its location-based and seasonal specials for these two different markets and even more so across urban and suburban areas.

But with consumers empowered with mobile devices and wearables, contextual marketing is becoming more of a matter of where the consumer is. Companies like Skyhook is making location-based services embedded in wearables more of a reality. It’s not difficult to imagine consumers opting into branded services that provide utility-based information that builds goodwill for your local stores.

Who You Are I hinted at the “who” of contextual marketing with my baseball game example. Understanding who you are means more than understanding your different personas. Contextual marketers can also vary their content based what they know about your lifestyle stages. A local gym that I frequent year after year might vary its offers to me quite differently when I’m an active single guy in my 20s versus a dad in my 30s and perhaps a desk-bound executive in my 40s.

I really like the way Under Armour is using data collected from wearables to make its entire product line more relevant to customers as their lifestyles or fitness levels change. Under Armour provides not only fitness products for active users but health-management solutions for customers as they become more conscious of managing their health more proactively, which typically happens as you grow older or get more fit. Under Armour gets persona-based marketing.

A business can also vary context based on what it knows about who visits a different location at different times, which is especially relevant to event-based marketing. Let’s say you operate a concession servicing Grant Park in Chicago. Using consumer-generated content like Twitter data or even review content, you can pinpoint the sentiment and interests of different demographic segments who visit this location, down to the specific locations of a park bench, depending on the events held there. You’ll rebrand the kind of merchandise and food you service in Grant Park depending on whether the park is hosting Lollapalooza or the Chicago Jazz Festival. For instance, during Lollapalooza, you might offer Jane’s Addiction coffee and Haim sandwiches, and during the Jazz Festival you might vary your menu with Bird scones. Why? Because the context of who visits the park during those events differs radically, and you need to create content that demonstrates that you get your audience.

When You’re Searching You’ve probably heard about micro-moments, or times when we use our mobile phones to decide where to go, what to do, and what to buy. Google created the term in 2015 to dramatize the impact of mobile on our search behaviors. Micro-moments vary according to many factors, and time is one of them. In the morning, I am more likely to be looking for “coffee near me,” and in the afternoon, I’m more likely seeking “snacks near me.” Pret a Manger restaurant can address both those needs, but the restaurant must customize its suggestions for coffee and food accordingly.

Thanks to Apple Spotlight and Facebook, we’re now having ideas for places to go and things to buy suggested to us before we even search. When you open the Spotlight search menu, Apple reveals icons that represent nearby points of interest for popularly used search categories as “Breakfast,” “Coffee,” “Convenience,” and “Gas.” If you touch one of the icons, you are taken to the Apple Maps app, which reveals specific locations for each category. And those suggestions vary by time of day. Similarly, Facebook serves up time-based content in the notification section of its mobile app — offering breakfast nearby until 11 a.m. and lunch thereafter, with additional context-aware changes occurring throughout the day.

What You Should Do The changing nature of context means that businesses need to:

Possess a strong location data management strategy that identifies every attribute of your location data, ranging from your identity to your location. You need to ensure that your content can be tied to an accurate latitudinal/longitudinal coordinate.

Be nimble about changing your location data depending on changing context, an example being the necessity to update store hours due to seasonal changes.

Develop a publishing program that layers contextual content on top of location data, so that your content is truly contextual, whether you’re serving up a mobile wallet offer or a customer loyalty incentive.

Contextual marketing sounds very exciting and promising on paper. When you get into the weeds of location data management, understanding context can seem like a challenge. But when you manage location data and context together, the rewards are greater.

Street Fight Daily: HERE Wants to Compete with Google Maps, Yahoo’s Grim Financials

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Seeking Investments from Microsoft and Amazon, HERE Signals Intent to Compete Aggressively with Google Maps (Search Engine Land) It’s been reported this week that Microsoft and Amazon are in talks to take a possible minority stake in HERE Maps, which is now owned by Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler. After Nokia sold HERE to the German consortium, there was a question of how broadly and aggressively the platform would compete in the market, and HERE is now indicating that it intends to compete directly with Google and Apple.

The Context for Contextual Marketing Is Changing (Street Fight) Gib Olander: The idea behind contextual marketing makes a lot of sense. But in practice, contextual marketing is getting pretty hairy, especially for location-based marketing. That’s because context is getting more complicated.

Yahoo Paints Grim Financial Picture as Deadline for Bids Nears (New York Times) As Yahoo asks potential bidders to submit first-round offers for its core business next week, it is also warning them about a troubling decline in revenue and profit while obscuring the costs and cash flow of various business units.

IAB Primer on Ad Blocking for Publishers Leans Toward Carrots Over Sticks (Street Fight) According to the IAB, “Ad blocking is a crucial wakeup call to brands and all that serve them about their abuse of consumers’ good will.” Street Fight recently spoke with IAB general manager Scott Cunningham about how the group is working to help publishers combat ad blocking.

Why Pinterest Forces You Off Its Mobile Site and Into Its App (VentureBeat) Ever had services boot you off their mobile site and force you to download an app? Casey Winters is responsible for why that happens to Pinterest users. Winters, the company’s product lead for growth, found that aggressively promoting Pinterest’s native app and limiting the mobile site’s functionality ultimately left the social network with more loyal users and thus, more money. Recode: Pinterest In Talks to Buy — or ‘Acqhire’ — Deep Linking Startup URX.

Google Eyes Move Into Political Polling Work (The Hill) Google is using the 2016 election to seek a foothold in the political polling industry. The Internet giant has been pushing its survey products to the staffers and operatives who work for campaigns, as well as the journalists who cover them. The company makes money from the surveys, but the work has the added benefit of keeping the Google brand prominent in the political conversation.

Unacast Looks to Monetize Its Location Data, Hires ironSource’s Cunningham as CRO (Street Fight) Beacon and proximity data company Unacast announced today that Chris Cunningham, formerly the Vice President of Revenue for ironSource, is joining the company as chief revenue officer. Cunningham will help Unacast monetize all of the data it aggregates from beacons and sensors.

More U.S. Households Buying Groceries via Digital Channels (eMarketer) Digital grocery shopping in the U.S. appears here to stay — 21 percent of households purchased groceries digitally in 2015. But while it’s on the rise, people still have reservations about buying their groceries online.

Self-Driving Delivery Vehicle Startup Dispatch Raises $2 Million Seed Round (TechCrunch) On-demand delivery is something consumers have come to expect. With that in mind, startup Dispatch is building a fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles designed for sidewalks and bike paths, and the company has announced a $2 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Making Sense of the Many Business Models in the Sharing Economy (Fast Company) Boyd Cohen: There is a lot of diversity within the sharing economy, and this has significant implications for the scalability, profitability, investability, and the social and environmental impact of users and communities as a whole.

Lean Cuisine’s Double-Digit Digital Turnaround

In the 1980s, Lean Cuisine was marketed as a diet food brand, its sales built on the word “diet.” However, Americans eventually stopped dieting with only 15% of the population now claiming to “diet.” Conversations around the brand were largely negative and even when they were positive the chatter focused on function, that Lean Cuisine was a tool for dieting.

Jeff Hamilton, President, Nestlé Prepared Foods

“That’s a bad place to be,” Jeff Hamilton, president, Nestlé Prepared Foods, said yesterday. “The idea of dieting lost relevance and the brand lost relevance too. We lost over $400 million in sales over the last five years. We needed to make a change to be more aspirational and positive. Consumers were embarrassed to be in line with boxes of Lean Cuisine. We had become a diet food for skinny white women.”

And change it did. Last year about this time, all Lean Cuisine products were reformulated to fit with the way people eat today. The packaging was changed to stand for something other than what the brand was founded on: that word “diet.”

Add to that, there was growing discussion around people being recognized by their accomplishments.

“We had to figure out how do we recognize women and ask them to put their accomplishments at the center of conversation,“ Sarah Hofstetter, CEO, 360i, said yesterday at the Ad Age Digital Conference. “That led us to making sure we were feeding the greatness of woman themselves and that the product was intrinsic to that. You can only do great work if you have the credibility on the product you’re delivering.”

That set in motion a major shift. The brand decided to delete the word “diet” from its marketing and instead focus on how it could help woman “be their best by weighing them not by size, but by accomplishments,” Hamilton said.

Lean Cuisine’s new platform was born. It was brought to life and the conversations started with video and the #weighthis. Watch the video:

“What happened as a result was inspiring,” Hofstetter said. “People saw it and started talking about their accomplishments and how much they felt more comfortable talking about themselves. We got so excited about the campaign performance.”

With the campaign underway, the second question was,”so what?” Hofstetter said. The team invited the woman featured in the video—all true stories—and influencers “to put it on the scale” at an event that took place in Grand Central Station in New York City. The idea was to use social media to capture those authentic stories that would allow Lean Cuisine to continue the conversation.

A few months ago, Lean Cuisine began seeing really good progress and focused on how to continue to build that momentum. The month of January helped out as a traditional timeframe when people think about losing weight and getting in shape.

“We wanted to be a part of conversation,” Hamilton said.

The team came together—folks living and breathing time on the business, the brand and agency folks—and then the tech team was invited in to brainstorm “what other things could we be working with,” she said. “How can we take our greatest vulnerability, the word diet—used every three minutes online— that four-letter word and turn it into an asset. The team started prototyping a concept to tap in to closed captioning to remove the word diet from the Internet and TV via a Chrome extension.

“The idea was not to invent something brand new, but to take different ingredients and transform something. That’s how we got to the diet filter,” Hofstetter said.

So where is the brand now?

The week after #weighthis launched, the brand saw its first positive year over year sales results in six years, negative conversations were way down, brand perception was up and conversations around the brand were up by 428%. But what about the true measurement of the campaign’s success, sales?

“At the beginning of 2015 we were in double-digit decline,” he said. “In the second quarter we made the packaging changes and all the new communications and traditional media. Around July 1, business started to go positive. By the third quarter we were back to double-digit growth. Clearly we’ve made an impact and consumers are recognizing that. “

Takeaway

Sarah Hofstetter, CEO, 360i

Hofstetter shared five tenants to build brands in the digital age.

Alchemy: It’s not magic and it’s not science but it’s how you get different ingredients together to form something new.

Breakthrough ads that talk to people—to ads that people can’t stop talking about.

Cross platform: It’s about making sure there are no dead ends; that we have a constant stream of communications between consumers and brands.

Discoverable: how to make sure brands are discoverable at the right time.

How Photographer Jared Polin Uses Email Marketing to Create and Drive Traffic to His Content

Eight years ago, Jared Polin filmed a video of himself talking about his camera gear. It was awkward. He was visibly uncomfortable in front of the camera. But he kept going.

He created another video. And another, and another.

In 2010, he launched his website Fro Knows Photo to show off his photography expertise and land some freelance jobs. His following back then was non-existent, but he kept creating.

Slowly, people began to notice. They asked questions about his techniques and Jared answered them the best way he knew how: with videos.

Today, Jared has nearly 500K YouTube subscribers and more than 200K email subscribers.

His success didn’t happen overnight. He cultivated his following over time with incredible content and a smart marketing strategy.

In this three-part series, I’ll show you all of the tactics Jared uses and how you can apply them to your own marketing strategy.

In this post, I’ll cover everything you need to know to create high-quality content, from getting started to driving traffic back to your content using email marketing.

In part two, I’ll explain how Jared created a winning paid content strategy by finding his ideal audience, promoting his product the right way and creating the best sales page on the planet.

Finally, in part three, I’ll show you how to expand your reach like Jared does using contests. We’ll also discuss how to turn YouTube subscribers into loyal customers.

Sound good? Keep reading and you’ll learn how to create and deliver the best darn content possible.

Getting started with content creation

Have a big idea? Great! Broadcast it to the world. Tell everyone who’s willing to listen.

When Jared started Fro Knows Photo, he had no business plan. (He still doesn’t.) He didn’t wait until he could create the perfect video; he just started executing.

“I don’t have a business plan,” he said. “I have ideas of what I want to do and I go with it. I think the problem people run into today is they worry too much. It’s important to plan, but start executing. Start doing. Then iterate along the way.”

The sooner you get started, the sooner you can collect feedback. The sooner you collect feedback, the sooner you can pivot (if you need to).

The majority of Jared’s videos today are aimed at helping people take better photos. But education wasn’t his goal in the beginning.

“The idea was to put out content with the photos I was taking so I could get more jobs because businesses would see my work and try to hire me,” he said. “That didn’t happen. What happened was people started asking questions about photography. I pivoted right off the rim. People would ask a question, I would put a video out about it. It started to grow from there.”

If you’re having trouble discovering the direction you want to take with your content, find out where your ideal audience hangs out online – think forums, the comments sections of popular blogs and Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Get involved in those communities and pay attention the questions people ask.

Is there a particular topic that people are dying to know more about – a topic that other blogs and businesses in your space haven’t adequately answered? Start there.

Jared’s following grew because of his constant interaction with his audience from the very beginning. When in doubt, get feedback.

Takeaway: There’s no “perfect” time to start to creating content. Begin by answering the biggest questions in your space and give yourself permission to improve over time.

Create content that stands out above the noise

If you‘re just getting started with creating content, look at what other people in your space are doing. What can you do better?

Jared knew he wanted to create videos where he reviewed camera gear. The problem with most review videos? They’re painfully boring and unhelpful for most viewers.

“You can’t fake getting good photos,” he said. “If all you have are test pictures of lamps and grass, you’re not helping people. But if you show you can get fantastic results with the most entry level camera, you’re telling people, ‘You can do this yourself.’”

Jared’s videos resonate with people because they’re authentic. He doesn’t try to create perfect content, he creates honest content. (Case in point: here’s a video of Jared crashing a razor scooter.)

“I don’t need to hide anything,” he said. “It’s about being open. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t give behind-the-scenes looks, share business information and share information about sponsors and advertisers. Why would I want to hide it?”

Whether you’re creating videos, ebooks or blog posts, your audience can tell when you’re faking it. And if there is no real takeaway that they can apply to their own lives, you’re simply wasting their time.

Takeaway: Is your content providing a real solution? Are you allowing your personality to show? Would your read it/view it yourself? If you can answer yes to these questions about your own content, you can stand out above the noise.

Drive traffic to your content

Have a piece of content that you’re proud of? Awesome. Now let’s drive some traffic to it.

Jared knew that he could create great content all day, but if people couldn’t find it, it wouldn’t do anyone any good. He was no SEO expert, but he knew that the smart use of tags on the videos he uploaded on YouTube could get him better visibility.

“I knew if I could tag things smartly – ‘Nikon D3300’ for example – people are gonna look,” he said.”But if I tag that same video as, ‘The first ever Nikon review, this thing is awesome,’ it’s not gonna match that many keywords. I didn’t know much about SEO, but all I did was common sense.”

No matter what type of content you’re putting out into the world, including keywords that reflect the way people search for those topics is key. Try Google Keyword Planner to discover your best keywords.

Another way to gain traffic is to publish content consistently, like Jared does.

“I was putting out quality, consistent content and that’s what kept people coming back for more,” he said. “You can’t put out one piece of content a week and expect people to latch onto you. They’re gonna forget about you. It would be very slow if you just put out one piece of content at a time.

I mentioned earlier that Jared created new videos based on questions people asked him. That’s one of the main ways he was able to grow his following.

“When people had a comment, and it was a good one, I could make a video off of it,” he said. “Or people could submit photos I could critique, and that’s a piece of content I could put out into the world.”

Delivering consistent content gives people a reason to keep coming back. And when you create content based on your audience’s comments and questions, it shows them you’re paying attention. That’s the start of a beautiful relationship.

Takeaway: Put more content out into the world and be sure to include the appropriate keywords. Try creating an editorial calendar to stay organized. Here’s how you can create an editorial calendar to help you keep track of your content.

Use email to deliver your content

Jared has relied on email – more than any other marketing strategy – to expand his reach, build relationships and get more eyes on his content.

“Part of getting the message out was through email,” he said. “Facebook is Facebook. Expanding your reach is getting hard to do unless you’re paying for it. If you want to reach your people, one of the best ways to do that is through email.”

His email strategy? Jared includes an ask for email sign ups at the beginning of his most popular videos (we’ll get into that more in part three). Once someone is signed up, he sends them lots of valuable content up front for free. He’s such a believer in this tactic that for the first two years of Fro Knows Photo’s existence, he didn’t ask anyone to buy anything from him.

“The internet marketers said, ‘You have 5,000 people on your email list! You need to sell something right now!’” he said. “I wasn’t ready to sell. That was the mentality, five, six years ago: sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. I was like, ‘I’m gonna give, give, give, give, give.’ It took two years until I had a guide I wanted to sell.”

Jared still offers lots of free content up front. On his sign up form, he offers a free photography guide for capturing motion in low light situations – a topic that resonates with amateur photographers.

The guide is incredibly detailed. Jared includes example photos along with explanations of the settings he used to get each shot. He explains the different camera settings and the best environments to use those settings, from outdoor sports events to indoor weddings.

Jared’s guide provides the perfect starting point for anyone who just bought their first camera, so it’s no surprise that it’s helped build his email list to more than 200K subscribers.

Takeaway: Before you can even think about asking your subscribers to buy something from you, be sure to provide them with plenty of no-strings-attached content up front. Create an incentive to give people a reason to sign up for your list. Strapped for time? Here are five incentive ideas that aren’t eBooks.

Keep your subscribers engaged over time with email automation

After Jared’s new subscribers get his free guide, he sends them a series of automated emails that span over the course of a few weeks. Here’s what his welcome email looks like:

Jared tells people exactly what they can expect to see in their inbox from him. He even invites them to unsubscribe from his list if they don’t find his tips useful.

After that, he sends a separate email that contains the free guide and a bonus video with tips for getting press passes to concerts. More free, unexpected content. Pretty cool, huh?

Jared then sends his subscribers his automated email series that delivers a new photography tip every day. Each email is short and each tip is something people can start using right away. Here’s one of those emails:

Jared is careful not to ask his subscribers to buy from him right away. When I signed up to his email list, I didn’t receive an email promoting his paid guide until more than a week later. By that point, I’d already received eight emails packed with free photography tips.

“The autoresponder series is built out over a few weeks,” he said. “I send solid content time and time again. Occasionally, there’s an ask in there, but then there’s more solid content. They also get the emails I create every week or every other week. Whenever I’m creating value, I use it. I don’t want to overpush.”

Takeaway: Email automation can help you build relationships with your subscribers over time. When you do promote a product, do it carefully. (We’ll dig into more best practices for creating and promoting a paid product in part two.)

Ready to create killer content?

Creating valuable, helpful content is the first step toward growing your business. There’s no way around it! Jared puts everything he’s got into the videos he creates for his followers – and it shows.

Follow the tips listed here and create something you’re proud of. Next month, be on the lookout for part two of Jared’s story where we’ll discuss how to create paid content that’s actually worth it and how to promote your paid content without annoying the heck out of your subscribers.

The right brand architecture strategy equals clarity. It is an external expression of the corporate business strategy and the criteria to guide effective brand decision-making. When done right, it helps customers easily understand what you do and find what they are looking for.

Beginning a brand architecture program often results in sighs and groans from our clients. Our advice—keep it simple. To kick-start your process, here’s three simple steps.

Step 1: Identify the symptoms of a brand architecture strategy that aren’t working hard enough.

Are customers confused?

Begin with your customers. As companies inevitably grow, acquire and pivot from their original purpose, brands become diluted and product offerings less clear. If customers have a hard time understanding what you do, don’t realize the full extent of your business’s offerings and/or don’t understand how brands connect, it may be time to re-examine your brand architecture.

How do you want your customers to purchase your products and engage with your brand?

Always start from the outside in, and identify how people engage and look to your business:

Multiple interconnected problems

One discrete problem

Somewhere in between

Is there an opportunity to systematize?

A shared framework for building and managing your portfolio’s brands helps to rein in the product teams and your organization’s approach to managing and developing its stable of brands. Simple criteria and process inform whether or not you brand related divisions under the same umbrella, build individual sub-brands and/or discrete product brands, and how you integrate a brand into your portfolio.

Step 2: Pinpoint the model that’s right for your business.

In broad strokes, there are three approaches to brand architecture with universal principles to guide how you will brand and manage your portfolio: branded house, hybrid and house of brands. Simply, where your business sits on this spectrum has a myriad of implications for how you brand your brands.

Several major factors influence the model your business selects. Boiled down there are two factors that often trump all others—business vision and budget. A solid brand architecture works in support of your business’s ambition. That’s why identifying the destination for your brand is so critical.

Be realistic. Does your brand have the budget, team and resources to support a portfolio of brands or the resources for building one powerful brand? Maintaining the status quo or establishing a new normal takes a solid strategy, discipline and time. The right model helps you lay the foundational criteria and the tools that will help your team enact that vision.

Step 3: Create the visual and verbal blueprint for your brand’s portfolio

Next, figure out how your portfolio’s parts and pieces are organized, related and communicated. Tightly managed brands have a visual and verbal blueprint. Brands use these visual and verbal breadcrumbs (e.g., visual system, nomenclature system) to help external audiences and customers better understand how the components of their business hang together. As brand managers, an endorsed visual and verbal blueprint makes the creation, integration and management of brands more efficient.

Voilà! While there is no one-size-fits-all approach when you begin to take a deep dive into brand architecture, these three steps should provide a foundational framework to building an architecture that will help drive future growth.

5 Ways to Adapt to the Evolution of Marketing Automation

While marketing automation has historically been aimed at alleviating marketers from repetitive tasks, it has begun its evolution into consumer-facing roles. One such example can be seen in brands like Disney exploring ways to scale direct consumer interactions with automated content marketing through chatbots on Facebook Messenger.

As people, behavior and interactions change, the way brands interact with customers must also evolve. For marketing automation to be effective, marketers must deliver more personalized experiences at scale, driven by efficiency and data. Here are five ways to adapt:

Personalize through data. Traditional demographics-based targeting is losing its effectiveness as consumers desire deeper, more personalized experiences. If your automated marketing campaigns aren’t narrowed down to specific consumer interests, your communications become nothing more than spam.

Without relevance and immediate value, your campaigns will quickly be ignored, leading to degrading brand perception. The reality is, 83% of consumers think spam is a serious problem. In order to avoid this trap, utilize proprietary consumer behavior data to personalize ads, content and offers. One great example is the way music streaming app Spotify automatically creates custom ads based on each user’s current playlist. By leveraging existing user data to personalize automated ads, your brand will be delivering enticing information that’s both timely and relevant to your customer.

Utilize messaging. According to a recent IHS report, messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, WeChat and Snapchat reached a combined 4.2 billion monthly active users at the end of 2015. It’s projected that by 2018, there will be 1.1 billion new users. Messaging platforms are now central hubs where consumers actively engage with one another. In fact, nearly 90% of millennials are messaging on their smartphones daily. These platforms are beginning to enable more than just conversation between two individuals.

Popular messaging apps now enable everything from news distribution and money transfers to live customer service. Since messaging has transformed to become an integral part of daily life, brands must develop strategies that engage consumers on this medium. And while messaging campaigns can seem like a daunting and resource intensive task, chatbots are capable of delivering scalable and fully automated experiences that are completely aligned with the brand voice.

Universal Studios was able to generate buzz for the 30 year anniversary re-release of the Back to the Future trilogy with an AI-powered Doc Brown chatbot on Facebook Messenger. These kinds of chatbots can be a very effective method for engaging consumers in entertaining, two-way conversations.

Double down on AI. Creating personalized messages for thousands of customers can be a time consuming task for marketers. But with advances in AI and natural language processing (NLP) technology, it’s become much easier. AI-powered platforms can identify and respond to consumer intent in real-time and deliver relevant offers in a way that was never before possible. Automated platforms that utilize Dynamic AI, like chatbots, do this by referencing a history of past interactions to generate smart, contextual responses to user messages.

Many leading companies are now utilizing this technology. Microsoft’s Xiaoice chatbot has more than 20 million users and 10 million instances where people have actually said they “love” their virtual friend. By integrating a Dynamic AI that has the ability to interact with millions of consumers simultaneously in real-time, brands will now be able to create easily scalable and highly engaging dialogues.

Go mobile. Mobile phone use may have grown over the past few years to quickly surpass desktop usage, but even more impressive is the rate of growth of connected devices such as wearables. With a plethora of new data that’s now available through these Internet-connected devices, it’s critical that brands integrate this valuable data into their marketing strategy to more effectively target potential customers.

One way to utilize this data is if a FitBit user just completed a workout, they could automatically be served up ads on their smartphone with coupons for post-workout smoothies at nearby places based off geolocation data. This enables your brand to effectively deliver messages where and when they have the highest chance of relevancy to the consumer, otherwise known as location-based advertising.

Get social. Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter now allow consumers to buy products directly from brands, right on the social network. Not only should your brand set up shop on these platforms, but you should also integrate marketing automation features that can upsell or provide recommended products based on past purchase history.

One example of this type of automation is if a customer purchases a SodaStream machine through a social buy button, then they should automatically receive ads for a new flavor drink mix after a predetermined time following the initial purchase. Continued post-purchase consumer engagement through automated campaigns is one of the easiest ways to drive additional revenue from your existing customer base, ultimately increasing your customer’s lifetime value.

Traditional marketing channels and methods are losing their effectiveness, particularly with millennials, and will continue fading as both technology and consumer behavior change. The future of personalized marketing campaigns will undoubtedly be powered by automated processes that enable brands and marketers to deliver relevant and engaging brand experiences to consumers at scale, without sacrificing authenticity.

What the Internet of Things Means for Today’s CMO

You don’t have to go far to experience the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT). Just take a trip to the local Home Depot and you’ll see new products that are changing the way we control the lights and heat our homes.

But what about IoT’s impact on marketing? IBM recently released a new global CMO study uncovering an interesting storyline around this very topic.

According to the research, two-thirds of CMOs believe their single greatest business challenge is industry convergence, where the barriers between formerly distinct industries are collapsing in the blink of an eye. This changing competitive landscape is being driven by new disruptive technologies such as cloud, mobile and, you guess it, IoT.

CMOs have been quick to recognize this shift and the threats that come along with it.

In fact, the study found that these marketers are more aware of the danger than CxOs in any other role including the CEO. So what has CMOs so concerned?

As new competitors enter a market, they immediately set their sights on winning over your customers and for many consumers the lure of new entrants can often be tough to resist. In one of the many discussions we had for the report, one respondent summed it up nicely by saying “industry convergence increases the number of predators and prey.”

In this new competitive jungle, the CMO is increasingly being asked to take on the role of the company’s chief customer custodian and protect the customer. This means that CMOs must have insights into their customers, including which ones are happy and which might be considered flight risks.

That’s right, the CMO’s job just got more difficult.

Marketers must shift their thinking and be willing to embrace a new set of tactics designed to solidify customer loyalty under any circumstances. Some to keep in mind include:

Creative Destruction: This is the abandonment of older, outdated business models in favor of more open and collaborative approaches that can easily link in their partners. By connecting to a large partner ecosystem, marketers can plug into additional solutions and create a technology infrastructure that allows them to adapt to changing consumer behaviors.

Embrace Data: At this point we all acknowledge the value that data brings to marketing, and CMOs are beginning to take action. According to the study, 36% say they are prepared to respond to the data explosion, double the number from 2013’s study. There is still a lot of work to be done on this front and the good news is that marketers agree—60% of CMOs are prepared to bring in more data-driven insights into marketing campaigns in the next 3-5 years.

Increased Digital IQ: Part of becoming a more data-driven organization is bringing on new talent with the skillset that can turn this information into something useful. However hiring new talent isn’t the only option. Increasingly more marketers (74% to be exact) are looking to either partner with other enterprises to tap into their digital expertise or work with consulting firms.

Experience, Experience, Experience: At the heart of a happy and loyal customer is a powerful brand experience. The study found that 63% of CMOs are prioritizing investment around delivering deeper, more relevant customer experiences this year. By leveraging the items above, marketers can ensure optimized experiences for each customer at every touchpoint.

3 Tips for Innovative Cross-Channel Campaigns

Consumers don’t consume content through one channel any longer. To be a true customer company, you need to meet your customers where they are, at the right time, and with the content that enriches their experience with your brand. With an intuitive cross-channel strategy, you’ll be one step closer to building customer connections that last. Check out these top tips for success.

Count on versatility

Customers will interact with your brand through more than one channel, whether it is through social, email, mobile, or on-site experiences. Successful brands cater content to both the channel and customer. Don’t necessarily repeat the same message on different channels. Each message should be unique and an integral part of the customer journey.

Pay attention to engagement

Every customer is unique. With scalable content applied through data-driven optimization, messaging can be personalized and dynamic based on individual customer behavior. This means that the power of mobile, for example, can be combined with the power of email to create an even stronger overall experience for your customer. A successful strategy will adapt the strengths of each channel for a cohesive master plan.

Evolve your relationship over time

Nothing is more important for marketing success than establishing 1-to-1 relationships with your customers. Add value to customer relationships with consistent and thoughtful communication throughout the journey, not just your initial engagement. Whether it is through an interactive on-site experience or a dynamic mobile experience, it’s important to recognize that every single interaction is an extension on your brand identity.

You can't ignore the cultural power of video games any longer

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The Drum

By Brendan Keogh

Updated April 06, 2016 14:01:18

Photo:Video games have been significant and influential popular culture artefacts since their inception.(Supplied)

Video games have always mattered, but thanks to initiatives like the World Video Game Hall of Fame they are now reaching a cultural legitimacy previously reserved for things like film, music and literature, writes Brendan Keogh.

In late March, the World Video Game Hall of Fame located in The National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York announced the finalists for its second round of inductions.

From 1970s classics such as Taito’s Space Invaders, to quintessentially 1990s mascots Sonic the Hedgehog and Lara Croft, to the more-recent but culturally ubiquitous Minecraft, the 15 contenders represent a vast range of video game styles, periods and technologies.

The existence of a World Video Game Hall of Fame suggests a sort of new cultural legitimacy to the video game form, a shifting sense that these digital works matter enough to be remembered. This is reflected in a broader enthusiasm in recent years by museums and art galleries building up collections of video games.

One of the criteria a video game must meet for consideration in the World Video Game Hall of Fame is to have:

Exerted significant influence on the design and development of other games, on other forms of entertainment, or on popular culture and society in general. (My emphasis)

Video games influencing other video games is not something many people would have trouble grasping. But this latter point is one often unconsidered up until recent years: the idea that video games have a significant influence on popular culture and society more broadly. Just as any art form or popular culture would. But then again, why wouldn’t video games have always had that influence?

Look at the release dates of those games being considered. One of the contenders, The Oregon Trail, was released in 1971, the same year that The Rolling Stones released Brown Sugar and Don McLean released American Pie. Sonic the Hedgehog was launched three months before Nirvana’s Nevermind. One of the first ever video games, Spacewar (which is not currently a contender), was made in 1962 – the same year as Elvis Presley’s Return to Sender.

For almost as long as there has been modern rock music, there has been video games. Rock music has been ubiquitous for decades; video games still often seem like some odd cultural novelty. All the editorials of the last three decades pointing out how much more money video games make than blockbuster films have not been able to change this perception.

Something weird happened to video games that prevented them, for decades, from acquiring the same cultural clout as their film and music counterparts. Even as they made million of dollars and raked in huge audiences, video games remained on the cultural margins.

We can trace two broad reasons for this.

Firstly, video games require a much more direct and intimate coupling between the work and the audience.

External Link:Mariah Carey – Game of War

Film and music and literature are all capable of being challenging, of course, but one can at least sit there and let the images, sounds or words wash over them without too much effort. Video games with their input devices require complex haptic literacies from our fingers in addition to the conscious engagement with sights and sounds.

Video games need to be learned, just like a musical instrument. Video games don’t just happen. Leave the room during a film and it will keep going. Leave the room halfway through Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic will just stop and tap his foot, waiting for you to come back.

To experience video games on a very basic level requires a significant amount of physical effort not needed to, say, overhear a good song at the supermarket.

Secondly, video games have been stuck in a very particular subculture since their birth that they have been struggling to claw out of ever since.

Born on university campuses by young hacker men, video games have long been seen as simply a thing young men do. There have always been women involved in their creation and playing, of course, but the cultural impression is one of young, nerdy men hunched over computers.

This was only amplified as video games exploded in the late 1980s and ’90s as publishing companies narrowed their target demographic to teenage boys, easily seen through some of the marketing of the time. It is no coincidence that many baby boomers remember playing games such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders, but then left video games behind entirely at this time.

Add both of these together – the complex physical exertion required and the self-labelled and patriarchal outsider culture – and it’s not hard to see why video games have struggled to receive the same level of cultural acceptance as other popular forms despite being around almost as long – and despite producing important works for just as long.

However, things have changed massively and rapidly over the past decade. After a prolonged and, let’s be frank, embarrassing adolescence, video games have once again found themselves more widely played and accepted. The widespread presence of powerful smartphone devices means almost every adult now has a device in their pocket capable of playing millions of video games, many of which have easy and intuitive controls.

The popularity of so-called “casual” games has attracted demographics of players from beyond the core teenage boys, as has the flowering of a great diversityof independent and hobbyist development scenes across the world. Games such as Minecraft and Angry Birds have reached a level of cultural zeitgeist that no first-person shooter could dream of obtaining. Mariah Carey now appears in commercials for the game Game of War.

Editorials that argue “video games matter now” have always made me cringe. Video games have always mattered! Look back over the past 50 years and you see the influence of video games on electronic music, on the special effects on movies, on the military, on increasing the popularity of personal computers.

They have been significant and influential popular culture artefacts since their inception, and the diversity of contenders for the World Video Game Hall of Fame reflects that.

The difference is that this influence has become a whole lot easier for more people to see now that we live in a time where you can’t put a hand in a pocket without finding a video game. Now, video games are normal.

Brendan Keogh is a Game Design Lecturer at SAE Creative Media Institute in Brisbane and a freelance video game critic and journalist. Follow him on Twitter @brkeogh.

Topics:games, arts-and-entertainment, games-industry, games-industry-professional-gaming

First posted April 06, 2016 13:50:19

Comments (25)

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R Supwood:

06 Apr 2016 2:01:28pm

I can ignore video games, always have, always will. Avoiding poxes, plagues, fanatics, bores. maniacs, dictators, Murdoch media, advertising, bible bashing bonkers and assorted other people and things of no merit is the ONLY sensible hobby.

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HPH:

06 Apr 2016 2:01:47pm

“The difference is that this influence has become a whole lot easier for more people to see now that we live in a time where you can’t put a hand in a pocket without finding a video game.”

What nonsense!

Before video games were invented, you couldn’t find anything else to play with?

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Terry:

06 Apr 2016 2:21:15pm

Lalalalalalala i cant hear you – every politition and person in power

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Dove:

06 Apr 2016 2:25:12pm

I haven’t played a video game in a decade, but even back then many titles were more complex, convincing and engaging than many movies. I’ve no doubt there are ones today even more so….I only lack the time

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Andrew Thomas:

06 Apr 2016 10:35:15pm

“…. I only lack the time”

Hi Dove,

Agreed. I was once an avid gamer (particularly strategy games), but family and work have taken care of that. But I will return in my latter years, and I can only guess at the sophistication of games when that time comes. Something to look forward to in my dotage.

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JoeBloggs:

06 Apr 2016 2:30:47pm

Brendan makes a very valid point when he says ” Look back over the past 50 years and you see the influence of video games on ……the military”

From games like America’s Army Online which required gamers to undergo training and pass tests in order to obtain certain in game skills, like passing a basic medics course in the in game class room, provided some basic understanding to the next generation of soldiers. As well and providing some basic fire support and team work tactics. A bit of a pre-basic training exercise.

Just as most people of military age are now highly comfortable with using remotely operated systems in order to conduct warfare (ie. drone operators).

The use of drone / robotic warfare systems is a natural progression of, and use of, the skills readily available within the western population. Why send them forth into danger when they have exceedingly superb control over remotely operated combat systems.

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Jess:

06 Apr 2016 2:36:50pm

The history of video games exhibit that they did at the Powerhouse museum was amazing. More exhibits like that will be created across the world.

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d:

06 Apr 2016 2:48:44pm

I have not watched TV for approx 3 years.

I have not been to a movie > 10 years, to a pay > 20 years nor the opera > 40 years. Not purchase a newspaper or magazine >10 years.

I play computer games almost daily.

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Iggy:

06 Apr 2016 3:27:21pm

Just a pity then that so much of the gaming community on the internet consists of MRA/MGTOWs and whining Man Children as highlighted by the recent Nintendo employee who had to be sacked cos she dared suggest 13 year old girls shouldnt be sexualised. Disgusting !

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saline:

06 Apr 2016 3:28:23pm

I was introduced to one of these games by a grandchild. After less than ten minutes I found the affect stultifying, I hope it doesn’t do the same to the brains of our youth.

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James Picone:

06 Apr 2016 6:14:55pm

Try playing better games. Like any form of media, some examples of the genre require more thought than others.

Games have the additional wrinkle that they’re very good at getting you into ‘flow states’, the in-the-zone hyper-focus state you get sometimes when performing tasks requiring deep concentration. Some games (really, most games) target that, instead of intellectual depth, because a lot of people find it pleasant. Some of those games are going to be weird to start off with because they usually assume some level of familiarity with the genre, and if you’re not used to platformers or something you’ll need to pay too much attention to the basic controls and ‘reading’ the game to be able to get into the pleasant hyperfocus state.

Try playing a difficult puzzle game – I would recommend Infinifactory, by Zachtronics.

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Politically Incorrect:

06 Apr 2016 3:34:39pm

The biggest difference between movies and games are I don’t get bored after an hour with a video game.

The low quality of today’s passive mediums have led to games being the ONLY medium that is churning out genuinely entertaining content.

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Ally:

06 Apr 2016 4:11:42pm

I’ve played video games as long as I can remember. It started with me playing with my elder brother. I have fond memories of sitting with him in his room playing Bubble Bobble on the Commodore 64 with various 1980s hair bands playing in the background. My sister and I would fight over whose turn it was to play Tetris on the gameboy and my mum loved to play Columns on the Mega Drive.

I’m only now dipping my toes into more modern gaming, having recently bought a PS4. Some of the negative stories about online gaming experiences for women have me hesitant about venturing into that world, though.

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LiberalAtheist:

06 Apr 2016 6:29:30pm

Ally, as a PS4 owner myself – welcome to the team! Some of the open world games currently on the market are truly amazing.

Re your hesitance, unfortunately there will always be idiots out there being sexist pigs. In fact the sentence could easily have been “…negative stories about online experiences….”, with nothing really happening in the gaming world that you likely haven’t also experienced commenting on a news or FB article. The connections we can make today, via social media or gaming, to complete strangers, makes negative experiences, sadly, inevitable.

PLUS, most games don’t necessarily require online direct contact with other players. Sure you may enter a multiplayer game, but there is no requirement they be able to speak or otherwise contact you.

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Nerd1000:

06 Apr 2016 10:51:51pm

How the girls (and anyone else who isn’t a 16-25 year old male, to be honest) are treated in online communities really depends on the community you join. Different games tend to attract different people, after all. If you want to avoid the majority of the more toxic groups I’d recommend steering clear of massively multiplayer free-to-play titles (Creating a new account is free, so people can be as nasty as they like with no real consequences) and also the mainstream first person shoot-em-ups (because communities for those games have a lot of teenagers with a very poor maturity to testosterone ratio).

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paul:

06 Apr 2016 4:30:12pm

I think there’s an important 3rd reason they haven’t caught on until recently, and that’s technology limitations.

Early video games were either really simple (shooting wave after wave of identical enemies) or those with depth had difficult to learn complex text based interfaces. A game that ran on 64k of RAM would have a user manual like an encyclopedia. You had to be dedicated to enjoy them.

As technology advanced, the audience grew larger. The biggest breakthrough was mobile touch interfaces that allowed games to have obvious intuitive interfaces instead of complex controllers. Now “gamers” is as broad a term as “people who watch TV” – it’s not just the hardcore nerds, it’s also the 90 year olds playing card games online against friends.

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Gordon:

06 Apr 2016 4:40:16pm

Treasury has a software model for the Australian economy right – we hear about “Treasury modelling ” all the time. Well, bundle it out as a game where you can pull all the levers, tweak all the settings, and tax anyone you like.

Run the whole thing online, and however gets the place humming and a bopping along the best gets to be PM.

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bkeniry:

06 Apr 2016 10:24:30pm

There is a game called “democracy 3” which does essentially just that.

It is an economic and political simulator.

Getting your policy settings just right and avoiding alienating key electoral demographics can be quite tricky.

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Finn:

06 Apr 2016 5:01:04pm

If Planescape: Torment doesn’t make it in one day, I will be greatly disappointed. A game that broke down the constructs of both fantasy and the RPG, and made me stop and question *who I am as a person*.

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firthy:

06 Apr 2016 5:33:14pm

Wholeheartedly agree with the notion that influential video games should be found in museums – of some sort or another. they are part of our history. Clearly they don’t appeal to everyone and the appeal is also somewhat age related – but they are a part of our history worth preserving.

I’m sure some dill will respond to this article noting what a waste of time video games are. That really is in the eye of the beholder – great fun for some; waste of time for others. That isn’t a valid reason for ignoring the phenomena…ditto for different tastes in music, art, movies, books etc, etc.

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M:

06 Apr 2016 6:06:37pm

I don’t play computer games – I have no interest in them whatsoever.

I am however, very interested in innovation economics and disruptive technologies.

And if we have a comparative advantage in this area we should be doing everything to leverage it.

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brian:

06 Apr 2016 6:09:25pm

I agree with the power of computer games almost everyone plays them now (even an elderly man I know says he was getting caught up in Angry Birds!).

However I must say that the large bulk of games, in particular by the AAA studios, don’t have very cerebrally challenging premises, and the art is by no means as refined as movie-making. Emphasis at the moment is still on things that don’t matter: graphics and sound, instead of good stories or even good gameplay. A bit like the ‘special effect’ movies of the 70’s that were cringeworthy to watch (even then).

Until AAA games put effort into compelling stories, arguments on current society, remarks on history, hope for the future, movies are still the main conveyors of relevance to all. Barring a small few, all I can see to the horizon at the moment is more fps’s.

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James Picone:

06 Apr 2016 6:43:41pm

There’s probably more innovative indie game stuff produced now than at any point in history, because of how much easier it is to write a game now and how many more people have grown up with videogames as a normal thing.

So sure, the AAA stuff can continue to be brown shooters; I’m looking forward to Banner Saga 2 and No Man’s Sky this month, I still need to pick up Factorio, Stardew Valley has proven entertaining, etc. etc.

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GPH:

06 Apr 2016 6:46:55pm

You’re correct in the respect that to find a gem, you’ve gotta sort through a lot of dung, but then, that’s the same for nearly any art form – for every Picasso, there’s a dozen cheap airport sketches. For Alien, there’s Prometheus. And for every The Last of Us, there’s a dozen Call of Duty clones. Its just unfortunate that those CoD clones make so much money its kind of what’s keeping some publishers alive right now.

And whilst you’re right, a lot of AAA games these days aren’t much chop (the independent scene does a lot of good in that respect), there are still some gems – The Last of Us, Witcher 3, Far Cry 3, or, if you want something that is just darn fun – Rocket League

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colonelwhisky:

06 Apr 2016 7:09:16pm

Agree about the majority games as they are the interactive equivalent of today’s action or superhero movies. Entertaining and mind numbing. Difference is I’m hesitant to drop $90 on a mind numbing game. But I do have guilty pleasures for some games, Total War series, Battlefield series to name a few.

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Email marketing is an effective way to automate and scale your service-based or local business.

The basic principles of acquiring and nurturing leads, developing top-of-mind awareness, and automating customer interactions are relevant for all businesses, not just digital.

In this podcast episode, we pick the brain of Matthew Rodela of Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy. Matthew has built multiple computer repair and consulting businesses, and also provides fantastic resources for anyone who is starting or maintaining their own computer business. He currently hosts The Computer Business Podcast.

The tactics Matthew shares with his community are relevant for most service-based and local business, so whether you fix computers, walk dogs, plan weddings, chop down trees, or service mortgages, this episode is jam-packed with actionable insights.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How to use email marketing to nurture leads from your website

How to use email automation to build customer relationships

How to increase referrals and repeat business with top-of-mind marketing

Listen below:

Here are a few links referenced in the episode:

Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy

The Computer Business Podcast

Matthew on Twitter

To Our AWesome Customers: Thank You!

Here at AWeber, we don’t hold back in expressing our love for our customers. And why in the world would we? You’re at the core of everything we do; every feature we release, every call we answer, every blog post we write… it’s all done with the goal of making your lives a bit easier.

And when we say we’re committed to creating remarkable experiences and helping you grow your business with email – we mean it. As one of our core values that’s posted all over the walls at AWeber HQ and referenced throughout the workday, it’s simply in our blood. And we know our customers get it too (why else would you send over really kind words, cards, lego kits and movie tickets?).

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The Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service is like the industry’s version of The Oscars, so to simply say we’re pumped about this isn’t enough (even though we are!).

“I think it’s a representation of how much focus our team has,” said Jordan Premick, Customer Solutions Supervisor at AWeber. “If we didn’t believe we could truly make a difference for our customers, we wouldn’t have gotten the award.”

According to Jordan, who accepted the Gold Stevie® on AWeber’s behalf at the award banquet in Las Vegas, our Customer Solutions Team is inspired by companies that are renowned for customer service, like Zappos. “We want to be part of that discussion, and getting the Stevie Award was the first recognition that we’re getting there,” he added.

And offering stellar customer support is an essential goal for us, because as a software company, there’s always a learning curve with technology.

“We have AWeber and email marketing experts to help them get started, use the service, optimize their email marketing campaigns to benefit their business and affect the bottom lines,” Jordan said. “It’s really important for them to know that we’re there to help and support them through everything they need to do… a lot of other email service providers don’t offer that.”

…And there’s more!

The Gold Stevie® isn’t the only reason why we’re in celebration mode.

AWeber was voted #1 among 25 leading email marketing service providers by PCMag readers, which includes our incredible customers (so thank you!).

And as if it couldn’t get any better, our AWesome Customer Solutions Team was recognized by National Customer Service Association as a first runner up for the 2015 All-Star Service Team of the Year Award.

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Although we’re basking in the euphoria of these recognitions (and quite possibly, a celebration-cake induced sugar rush), we’re also extremely humbled. We can’t emphasize it enough when we say we owe it all to YOU – this just pushes us to focus even harder on helping you succeed.

A Campaign is Mocked and the CMO is Out

It’s important to get your concert halls and state capitals straight, as the marketing director of the Rhode Island Commerce Corp. found out this week.

A video to promote The Ocean State showed a concert hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, instead of the state’s capital, among other mistakes. Rhode Islanders got in an uproar, the governor jumped in and … well … a marketer lost her job.

Other brands have suffered marketing missteps this year, including Coca-Cola. Russia was involved in that one too. A seemingly routine online advertising post that appeared at the end of last month on VKontakte, Coke’s Russian version of the social network Facebook, included a map showing Crimea to be part of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea from the Ukraine in March 2014 outraging many. The New York Times reported that the post drew protests and condemnation from Ukrainians.

Related article:

3 Tools to Analyze Instagram Content

If you use Instagram as a marketing tool, you may be in search of tools to help you analyze the engagement of all that wonderful content you’re posting.

This article, from Social Media Examiner, takes a look at three tools to track and evaluate those marketing efforts and why you need them.

Nissan’s New CMO Calls AOR’s Work Sh _ _!

Christian Meunier, CMO, Nissan

The new senior vice president, sales and marketing at Nissan, Christian Meunier, lit a roaring fire under the brand’s agency by publicly shaming it into ditching the “sh _ _” it was pitching and bringing some new and innovative ideas to the table.

It’s a shift in the dynamics between ad agencies and new CMOs, which usually end in a futile, timely and costly pitch by the incumbent, only to be tossed aside in the end.

Amber Rayne, Adult Actress Who Accused Adult Actor James Deen of Sex Assault, Dies at 31

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Adult film actress Amber Rayne arrives at the 27th annual Adult Video News Awards Show at the Palms Casino Resort January 9, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Porn star Amber Rayne has been found dead at her home at the age of 31, it has been reported. The adult …

Adult Performer Amber Rayne Dies at 31

Adult film actress Amber Rayne died in her sleep over the weekend, AVN reports. Rayne, 31, was one of several high profile adult actresses who accused James Deen of sexual assault over the winter. Rayne spent over a decade in the adult industry.

Adult film actor Amber Rayne found dead in her Los Angeles home

One of five women who accused James Deen of assault while filming a scene Cause of death for 31-year-old still unknown Adult film actor Amber Rayne, a 10-year veteran of the porn industry, has died at the age of 31 in her Los Angeles home, according to the …

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