WebProNews

Category: MarketingNews

The original MarketingNewz website and email newsletter first launched in 2007.

  • Why Is Appealing To Human Emotions In Branding Campaigns Important?

    Why Is Appealing To Human Emotions In Branding Campaigns Important?

    Marketing is a multi-dimensional business entity and is crucial for any company’s development. Companies use various methodologies to run their campaigns, depending on their goals. One of the most common strategies companies are now using is Emotional Branding.

    What is Emotional Branding?

    As the name suggests, emotional branding is a branding technique that tries to trigger various emotions in people. Happiness, love, and peace are the main emotions we think of when we talk about positive emotional branding, but they aren’t the only branding emotions you will find.

    Experts believe that positive emotions extend from these basic feelings to more complicated ones. A full spectrum of positive emotions would include:

    • Euphoria
    • Happiness 
    • Inspiration 
    • Joy
    • Kindness to pride
    • Optimism
    • Satisfaction
    • Serenity, interest
    • Awe 
    • Relief 

    Understanding Emotional Branding and its Benefits

    A wider range of emotions in branding provides companies with the tools to run more diversified branding campaigns and get the desired results. Emotional branding is a successful branding technique that the world’s leading brands follow. 

    For example, Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign revolved around emotional branding. Their bottles had the most common names worldwide printed, and the company asked their customers to post their names on social media. The campaign was a major hit and increased Coca-Cola’s brand reputation.

    Emotional branding has much more to offer, and campaign runners should know the full benefits of this branding technique. We’ve listed down some of these benefits for you, so have a look.

    Conceptualize Every Strategy

    The main purpose of using emotional branding is to elevate and enhance any business-related change you wish to make. It adds more ground to your business decisions and helps people connect with you better. 

    Many companies also use social incidents as an inspiration for their branding methods. A common example is Umber’s renowned anti-racism billboard which said:

    If you tolerate racism, delete Uber. Black people have the right to move without fear.

    The company tapped into the emotions around the “Black Lives Matter” movement and helped people feel valued. Yes, some people may have also deleted the application, but the overall result was still in Uber’s favor.

    Creates more Usability

    Such a diverse range of emotions can be challenging for brands to utilize in their campaigns. Fortunately, adding emotional branding to their marketing campaign helps brands get actionable insights in their campaigns too.

    It can show you how the visitors on your website interact with the platform and help you advance with future tactics accordingly.

    Provides better Storytelling

    The emotional narrative of any branding strategy needs to connect with the brand’s target audience. 

    A successful example of good storytelling is Heineken’s ‘Worlds Apart ‘, which revolves around the idea that despite differences among different countries, we still unite as one. The campaign helped their audiences see others differently and resonated pretty well with the audience. 

    This kind of branding technique merged with an advanced video advertising solution can help reap better results. 

    Improves the Product Design 

    The best way to improve your product design is to create the one that the audiences love. Identifying the right product design is challenging since it won’t reflect well on your brand if you do not understand the audience’s requirements. The product design options are virtually limitless, making it pretty challenging for companies to find the right one.

    Improving the product design requires understanding the customer’s expectations from the brand and delivering accordingly. Nike is one of the few brands that quickly mastered emotional branding and the right approaches. 

    Their “Just do It” campaigns are among the most well-renowned emotional branding campaigns. It focuses on athletes that have suffered injuries and how they have bounced back from these challenges. 

    Stand out with your Social Media

    Social media is one of the most viable tools for brands wishing to better connect with their audiences. It allows direct engagement, content sharing, collecting real-time feedback, and much more with your target audience. 

    However, branding your products through social media doesn’t always have to be direct. The “Unsung Hero” by Thai Life Insurance is a perfect example of this technique. It doesn’t mention the product directly, but it discusses the importance of human belief in values.

    Social media allows brands to connect with their audiences personally, increasing the number of conversions towards their brand without direct advertising. 

    Creates Experience Dialogue

    Working on your emotional branding technique can help increase dialogue around your campaign. People have more things to say about your brand, and if these responses are good, they will improve how the industry sees your company as a whole.  

    The more people talk about your brand, the more they know. Customer feedbacks are one of the simplest types of dialogues that you can advertise on your websites too.

     Mistakes to Avoid in Emotional Branding

    Running an emotional branding campaign is great for a company’s brand reputation and overall stature in the industry. However, there are some mistakes you need to avoid, while emotional branding can be counterproductive for you. These include:

    • Focusing on the features of your business instead of the values behind it
    • Trying to address the audience in a technical or tactical language
    • Failing to tell a compelling story to the audience
    • Thinking of emotional branding as academic alone
    • Trying to replicate what others may be doing with their brands
    • Failing to launch a new product or brand internally may lead to inconsistencies within the company.
    • Compromising on the branding budget 

    Bottom Line

    Emotional branding is a simple yet effective technique for resonating with audiences. It lets companies connect with their target groups on a more personal level and help them achieve better results. 

    Emotional branding campaigns vary for each brand, and so does the message they want to put across. Some companies consider social movements as their primary emotional branding, while others may consider success stories or battling struggles their main selling point. Nevertheless, the fact remains that you can use emotional branding to effectively change the customers’ perception about your brand. 

  • Some YouTube Users Seeing 10 Ads Before a Video

    Some YouTube Users Seeing 10 Ads Before a Video

    YouTube is stretching the limits of its users’ patience, testing up to 10 ads before a video.

    A Reddit post popped up earlier this week, with users discussing the fact that YouTube is routinely displaying five or six ads at a time before a video plays. To make matters worse, the ads are unskippable, and the videos still have longer, albeit skippable, ads midway through.

    According to TechViral, some users see as many as 10 ads before the start of a video.

    According to a tweet by TeamYouTube, the company is experimenting with more ads but said each ad is no longer than six seconds.

  • Meta Will Charge Metaverse Content Creators a Nearly 50% Commission

    Meta Will Charge Metaverse Content Creators a Nearly 50% Commission

    Apple make receive the lion’s share of flak for charing a 30% commission for its App Store, but Meta is set to dwarf that for metaverse content creators.

    CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a Facebook post that the company was looking at ways to help content creators monetize their involvement in the metaverse.

    We’re testing two new ways for creators to make money building for Horizon in the metaverse. First is in-world purchases, so creators can sell virtual items in their worlds and offer paid access to parts of the world. Second is a creator bonus program, where creators are paid for building worlds people want to explore. We’re starting these programs small and will scale over time. Here’s a video in Horizon with some creators discussing these tools and what the metaverse economy might look like.

    Unfortunately for content creators, according to Reuters, Meta plans on taking a hefty 47.5% commission. The company will charge a “30% hardware platform fee,” as well as “a further 17.5% cut as its Horizon platform fees.”

    With those hefty fees, it’s unclear how many content creators will be onboard with Meta’s plans.

  • TikTok Lays Off Marketing and Sales Staff

    TikTok Lays Off Marketing and Sales Staff

    TikTok is the latest company to lay off employees, giving the pink slip to some of its North American global business solutions team.

    TikTok has been the social media platform to beat, growing at a rate that puts its older rivals to shame. Despite its growth and the revenue it brings in, the company has let go of a number of employees responsible for sales, ads, and marketing. The company says those who have been laid off can apply for other jobs within the company.

    Individuals that spoke with Business Insider said they knew of at least 20 individuals who were laid off, but they failed to say how many were impacted overall.

    “I wasn’t expecting this,” one laid-off individual said. “Especially because of how much revenue TikTok reported on ads last year. So it was kind of sudden.”

    Taylor Cohen, Global Industry Strategist at TikTok, confirmed via LinkedIn that she was one of those included in the layoffs.

    “After two years at TikTok as a Global Creative Strategist, I was included in part of the layoffs this week,” she wrote. “Will miss working with some of the best people in the industry and wish all of my coworkers the absolute best!”

    Insider says the layoffs are part of a broader attempt by the company to see exactly what elements it can trim and still remain effective. If true, it may indicate other layoffs are yet to come.

  • Oracle Turns to AI to Automate Digital Marketing With Fusion Marketing

    Oracle Turns to AI to Automate Digital Marketing With Fusion Marketing

    In an industry first, Oracle is using artificial intelligence (AI) to help automate digital marketing.

    AI is revolutionizing a wide range of industries, but Oracle is applying it to digital marketing campaigns, with its newly announced Fusion Marketing platform. Unlike many lead generation systems, that merely raise brand awareness, Fusion Marketing is specifically designed to generate leads.

    Fusion Marketing uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically score leads at the account level, predict when consumers are ready to talk to a salesperson, and generate a qualified sales opportunity in any CRM system.

    Oracle hopes Fusion Marketing will address the disconnect many salespeople feel when using a CRM system, where siloed data often works against making a sale. Oracle’s new system is designed to address that and accelerate marketing campaigns by automating the lead generation process from end-to-end.

    “It is time for our industry to think differently about marketing and sales automation so that we can transform CRM into a system that actually works for both the marketer and the salesperson,” said Rob Tarkoff, executive vice president and general manager, Oracle Advertising and Customer Experience. “This is not about forecasts and rollups or a reporting tool to see how the sales force is performing, but instead about turning CRM into a system that helps sellers sell. A huge part of that change is bringing marketing and sales teams together and eliminating the low-value, time consuming tasks that distract from building customer relationships and closing deals. That’s why we have invested so much time engineering a system that will help marketers fully automate lead generation and qualification and get highly qualified leads to the sales team faster.”

    Oracle’s Fusion Marketing is just the beginning, as experts say AI will continue to transform digital marketing.

    “Machine learning algorithms are integral to digital marketing and that will only increase over time. The best digital marketers have embraced this fact, and have already shifted their focus towards more human-first activities. Machines are better at crunching numbers and making data-driven decisions. But they still need humans to decide what data to feed into those systems. This comes from understanding human behavior, a deep sense of empathy, and expert-level storytelling that are hard to replicate through AI.” – Dennis Consorte, Digital Marketing Expert and Expert at Digital.com, told WebProNews.

  • How HubSpot is Using Surround Sound Marketing Strategy to Drive Sales

    How HubSpot is Using Surround Sound Marketing Strategy to Drive Sales

    “There is a very smart individual at HubSpot named Alex Birkett based out of Austin, Texas,” says Scott Tousley of HubSpot. “He is working on this concept that is really starting to take off called Surround Sound Strategy. Essentially what that means is that it runs with the notion that marketers are selfish. All we care about is how do we drive more traffic to our website.”

    Scott Tousley, Senior Team Lead of User Acquisition for all products at HubSpot, was recently interviewed on the B2B Growth Podcast by David Kelly, General Manager at Sumo Dojo. Tousley discusses how HubSpot is using Surround Sound Marketing Strategy to drive leads and sales:

    Surround Sound Marketing Strategy Starting to Take Off

    There is a very smart individual at HubSpot named Alex Birkett based out of Austin, Texas. He is working on this concept that is really starting to take off called Surround Sound Strategy. Essentially what that means is that it runs with the notion that marketers are selfish. All we care about is how do we drive more traffic to our website. I don’t care where it comes from. Whether it comes from search or social or referral traffic or email, it doesn’t matter. You’re always looking at how do I get more traffic to my website? The reality is that when we are trying to buy something you don’t go to one website. You go to multiple different websites when you are trying to make a purchasing decision.

    For example, I’m in South Lake Tahoe right now. One search I just did recently was “best bars in South Lake Tahoe.” I wanted to see a list and I wanted to see some reviews from a couple of different websites. I also like to surf, so let’s say I’m in the market for a new shortboard. So I search for “best shortboards 2019.” First, I’ll read a listicle, then I will go back to Google and I will click on the next list. Then I will go back again and click on the next list. Then I will start to narrow my decision based on seeing the same thing over and over. Once I narrow it down I will do a versus search such as “lost puddle jumper” vs. “channel islands average joe.” I’ve narrowed my decision at that point.

    We Want To Be At All Stages of the Purchasing Decision

    What we are trying to do at HubSpot right now is figure out how to be everywhere. We want to be at all stages of that purchasing decision when people are searching for “what is the best blank that exists today.” Well, there are a ton of lists that are out there and a ton of review sites and HubSpot’s B2B software (has to be there). There are a lot of review sites just dominating search engines right now like Capterra, G2 Crowd, and Software Advice. A lot of those are pay to play. You have got to pay to get listed on what appears when you land via search. Most of them are.

    But listicles are free. Not only are they free to get added to, but they are free to create. That’s one of the biggest things we are working on right now. How do we change our mindset from being so obsessed at driving traffic to our website? How do we make sure that HubSpot’s brand is everywhere when you are doing your product research and you are on many different websites? We actually sometimes prefer that we drive traffic to multiple different websites where we are listed versus just to our own. It’s good for social grouping.

    Listen to the full interview with HubSpot’s Scott Tousley.

  • LinkedIn Is a Major Growth Driver for Microsoft

    LinkedIn Is a Major Growth Driver for Microsoft

    LinkedIn is shaping up to be one of Microsoft’s best growth drivers six years after purchasing it.

    LinkedIn is the professional networking site Microsoft purchased in 2016 for more than $26 billion. The platform provides a way for professionals to connect with others in their field, search for jobs, post articles, and more. Microsoft has continued investing in the platform and integrating it with its other tools and services. The company’s strategy is paying off, with a report from Seeking Alpha revealing that LinkedIn is now one of Microsoft’s biggest growth drivers.

    LinkedIn is part of Microsoft’s Business & Productivity segment, which is already seeing massive growth.

    We looked further into the company’s growth driven by the Business & Productivity segment (comprised of Office Products, LinkedIn and Dynamics). This major segment makes up 32.1% of its total revenue in 2021.

    According to Seeking Alpha, despite having a smaller portion of the social networking market, LinkedIn is punching above its weight class in terms of the value it generates:

    While LinkedIn only represents a small percentage at 11% of the selected Social Networking Sites’ total users which is dominated by Facebook (META) followed by Twitter (TWTR) and Reddit, LinkedIn stands out as a multi-sided platform combining social media with the recruiting platform. Compared to Facebook and Instagram, which has a higher growth rate in terms of average revenue per user, LinkedIn had a stable average ARPU growth of 23% since 2017.

    LinkedIn’s value to Microsoft is also driven by the results it delivers, providing 4.4x higher cost-per-click than Facebook, 12.84x higher than Twitter, and 0.48x higher than Instagram. Similarly, is 277% more effective at lead generation than Facebook and Twitter.

    Thus, we forecasted its growth based on its 5-year average user growth rate of 11% and ARPU growth of 10.8%. All in all, we projected LinkedIn’s revenues to grow at an average rate of 22.9% annually through 2024 as it attracts more users and monetizes its user base.

    Seeking Alpha’s report is good news for LinkedIn and Microsoft and shows the latter knew exactly what it was doing when it bought the networking site.

  • Microsoft Advertising Can Now Import Facebook Ads

    Microsoft Advertising Can Now Import Facebook Ads

    Microsoft has announced its Advertising platform can now import Facebook Ads.

    Many companies live or die by their online advertising. Especially in the wake of the pandemic, many small businesses have increasingly shifted to online sales, making their advertising more important than ever.

    For companies looking to expand their advertising reach, recreating a successful campaign on another platform can be a time-consuming proposition. Microsoft is hoping to make it easier, releasing Facebook Import to help companies import their Facebook ad campaigns into the Microsoft Audience Network.

    Are you new to audience campaigns, or looking to expand your existing presence on the Microsoft Audience Network? Using Facebook Import, it’s now easier than ever to get audience campaigns up and running by importing from Facebook Ads. Now rolling out to all advertisers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France and Germany, this new feature is designed to save you time and maximize ROI by seamlessly bringing over your campaigns from the Facebook Audience Network into the Microsoft Audience Network. Facebook Import can be used as a standalone tool, as well as a powerful complement to any existing Google Import strategy.

    The new feature can be accessed via the Import menu in the Microsoft Advertising dashboard.

  • Senators Introduce Bill to Break Up Google and Meta

    Senators Introduce Bill to Break Up Google and Meta

    A bipartisan group of senators is taking aim at Google and Meta, introducing a bill that would break up the companies’ ad businesses.

    Google and Meta are the dominant advertising platforms online, and both have been accused of anti-competitive behavior. Such behavior has increasingly drawn the scrutiny of regulators on both sides of the Atlantic, with a bipartisan group of senators ready to take action.

    The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act (CTDA) has been introduced by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), as well as Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The bill would prohibit companies with more than $20 billion in digital ad transactions from owning more than one part of the ecosystem. This measure would address concerns aimed at Google, which is seen as controlling virtually all aspects of the online advertising industry.

    Read more: There’s a Wiki to Remind You of All Big Tech’s Controversies

    Similarly, smaller companies that process more than $5 billion in ad transactions would be required to meet certain criteria aimed at protecting both the competition and the consumer.

    Senator Lee said, “Digital advertising is the lifeblood of the internet economy. It supports most of the free content and services Americans have come to rely upon, including essential local journalism, and it allows businesses of every size to reach their customers quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, online advertising is also suffering under the thumb of trillion-dollar tech companies.

    “Companies like Google and Facebook have been able to exploit their unprecedented troves of detailed user data to obtain vice grip-like control over digital advertising, amassing power on every side of the market and using it to block competition and take advantage of their customers. The conflicts of interest are so glaring that one Google employee described Google’s ad business as being like ‘if Goldman or Citibank owned the NYSE.’”

    Needless to say, Google is calling foul on the new bill, telling The Verge that it is “the wrong bill, at the wrong time, aimed at the wrong target.” The company then went on to blame “low-quality data brokers” for the issues targeted by the bill.

    It remains to be seen if the bill will pass, although its early bipartisan support is certainly something of an indicator. The bill is also the latest evidence of regulators’ growing impatience with Big Tech, and what they perceive as abuses of its power and influence.

  • Shopify Takes Aim at Walmart and Amazon With Deliverr Purchase

    Shopify Takes Aim at Walmart and Amazon With Deliverr Purchase

    Coming off of strong growth during the pandemic, Shopify has announced a deal to acquire Deliverr, a move that will help it combat Walmart and Amazon.

    Shopify is one of the leading online shopping platforms, but it has to compete with more traditional businesses as well. The company is obviously doing well, bringing in $1.2 billion in revenue in Q122, a 22% increase. Shopify is now building on that momentum with a deal to acquire Deliverr.

    “While we’ve experienced massive macro shifts since the start of the pandemic, the one mainstay has been that Shopify is the commerce platform of choice for merchants in any environment, with the ability to support commerce on any surface,” said Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s President. “This has earned Shopify significant merchant trust and the ability to help them with more parts of their business, which is why we are eager to bring Deliverr’s team and technology to our merchants.”

    The move will help Shopify provide the logistics supplier infrastructure its customers need.

    Deliverr’s asset-light infrastructure complements and extends the reach of Shopify’s network of large-capacity, self-operated hubs, and enhances affordable access to a two-day delivery promise in the U.S. across all channels. With Deliverr, Shopify strengthens its ability to offer merchants simplified inventory management, demand-driven inventory balancing, and fast delivery from coast to coast, with minimal inventory required. Deliverr, which ships over a million orders per month across the U.S., has already benefited thousands of merchants, many of whom use Shopify, as the hyper-fragmented market of freight forwarders, transportation providers, and 3rd-party logistics companies can be overwhelming for users.

  • Podcast Revenue in the US Set to Surpass $4 Billion in 2024

    Podcast Revenue in the US Set to Surpass $4 Billion in 2024

    Podcasting is enjoying a major growth spurt, with the industry expected to surpass $4 billion in revenue in the US alone by 2024.

    Companies large and small are getting on the podcasting bandwagon, striking deals with podcasters and vying for customers. According to a new study by IAB Media Center, via TechCrunch, the US industry hit $1.4 billion in 2021, is slated for $2 billion in 2022, and should surpass $4 billion in 2024.

    “The report indicates significant growth ahead, with advertisers buying podcast impressions at scale while tracking delivery, effectiveness, recall, and results,” said Eric John, vice president, IAB Media Center. “Buyers will expect advanced brand safety solutions, audience targeting, and measurement, and we look forward to working across the ecosystem to create standards that serve creators, listeners, publishers, and brands.”

    The findings will likely continue to spur investment in the industry, as companies fight for a piece of the profits.

  • Privacy-Focused Tech Companies Call for Ban on ‘Surveillance-Based Advertising’

    Privacy-Focused Tech Companies Call for Ban on ‘Surveillance-Based Advertising’

    A group of tech companies with a history of protecting user privacy is calling for a ban on “surveillance-based advertising.”

    Mojeek, along with DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, StartPage, Fastmail, Proton Technologies and others have written a letter calling on the US, UK, EU and Australia to take action against the dominant form of online advertising. Mojeek is a UK-based search engine that has not tracked users since its inception, and holds the distinction of being the first privacy-oriented search engine. Similarly, the other companies on the list have a long history of protecting user privacy.

    The companies make the case in their open letter that surveillance advertising, commonly called “personalization,” is a threat to consumers, businesses and democracies. The companies also stand as examples that prove it’s possible to build a profitable business without exploiting consumers.

    We are a group of businesses who write to you today to show our support to this initiative. We represent small, medium and large businesses who all believe -and demonstrate on a daily basis -that it is possible to run profitable companies without exploiting the privacy of individuals.

    The companies emphasize they are not anti-advertising, they simply want the industry to use technologies and methods that don’t involve invading the privacy of users.

    Although we recognize that advertising is an important source of revenue for content creators and publishers online, this does not justify the massive commercial surveillance systems set up in attempts to “show the right ad to the right people”.

    Other forms of advertising technologies exist, which do not depend on spying on consumers, and alternative models can be implemented without significantly affecting revenue. On the contrary – and that we can attest to – businesses can thrive without privacy-invasive practices.

  • The Business of Energy Drinks

    The Business of Energy Drinks

    Energy drinks and pre-workout drinks are often used by athletes before a big game or before they start a heavy workout. The ingredients that are found in these drinks claim to help increase stamina and endurance, and even virtual athletes can benefit from these drinks. With such a large consumer base, do these ingredients actually do the things they claim? And why are these drinks growing in popularity so rapidly?

    The Science Behind Energy Drinks

    Athletes tend to reach for pre-workout drinks before any strenuous activity because the amino acids that are found in them can help increase energy, stamina, and help prevent damage to cells. 87% of pre workout drinks contain  beta-alanine, an amino acid that improves strength and endurance. 71% of these drinks also include citrulline, another amino acid that can help increase stamina and energy. Some of these drinks also include taurine which can help prevent cell damage that can occur during exercise. All of these amino acids working together along with caffeine can lead to an overall more intense workout with less fatigue. 

    Looking at athletes off the field, esports players also reach for energy drinks when it comes time to play in virtual tournaments. Many energy drink companies sponsor some of the biggest esports teams today, and gamers tend to use these drinks for the same reasons athletes on the field do. Energy drinks include some of the same ingredients as pre workout ingredients and offer similar benefits. Gamers use these drinks to increase focus, reaction time, and stamina which are all important in maximizing their overall gaming performance.

    Athletes both on and off the field are using energy drinks and pre-workout in order to improve their performance, but there are still people who oppose drinking these beverages. Long term use of pre-workout can increase muscle mass and strength, but using large doses in a short time can lead to adverse effects. It is important to remember to use energy drinks and pre-workout in a safe and healthy way in order to reduce the likelihood that these side effects will occur.  Opponents of energy drink use have also noted that these drinks are too caffeinated and too artificial. In fact, many pre-workout brands have many ingredients that aren’t even listed on the label! 

    What’s in an Energy Drink?

    In getting criticism about ingredient use and the amount of caffeine in their drinks, many energy drinks companies have started making changes to their recipes. Many brands are switching to using more plant-based energy ingredients such as guarana and green tea. This allows for less artificial caffeine ingredients to be used and leads to an overall healthier product for consumers to enjoy. Brands are also using nootropic elements that are used to increase focus, and are using overall better quality and organic ingredients. 

    In Conclusion

    With these changes being made to already popular products, it is expected that even more people will be using energy drinks and pre-workout to help in their daily routines or before exercise activity. With so many benefits now being packed into a healthier product, it’s no wonder athletes on the field and gamers on the virtual field are using energy drinks to boost their performance.

    Learn more about energy drinks and how they can help your workout in the infographic below:

  • Amazon Charging US Sellers 5% Fee For Inflation and Fuel

    Amazon Charging US Sellers 5% Fee For Inflation and Fuel

    Amazon is increasing its fees for US-based sellers, charging an additional 5% fee for inflation and fuel charges.

    Amazon is the world’s biggest e-commerce marketplace and is increasingly one of the largest shipping companies in the US. The company relies on third-party sellers for many of the products that populate its marketplace, but those sellers are about to get hit with additional fees, thanks to the increased cost of business Amazon is facing.

    According to CNBC, Amazon is notifying US sellers it will be charging them a 5% surcharge for inflation and fuel costs.

    “The surcharge will apply to all product types, such as non-apparel, apparel, dangerous goods, and Small and Light items,” the notice stated. “The surcharge will apply to all units shipped from fulfillment centers starting April 28.”

    The e-commerce giant says the costs are “subject to change.”

  • Data Collection in a World of Internet Privacy

    Data Collection in a World of Internet Privacy

    The use of online tracking tools is one of the primary methods that businesses can use to inform their marketing efforts and therefore grow revenue. In order to do this, companies with an online presence most often use cookies and tags, also known as web beacons, to gather data about their consumers and their habits. Cookies are small text files that a website can place on a user’s device that enables them to recognize and track their online behavior. Similarly, tags are the technical mechanism by which cookies are stored on a user’s device, collecting data including but not limited to the pages they view, products they purchase, and how they accessed the website.

    Because of the expansive technology that businesses can use to gather personal data on their customers, there are many privacy regulations that have been put into place to protect the rights of the user when online, which may be part of why cybersecurity insurance rates are rising. For example, in Europe, ePrivacy Directive is the governing body of user experience and privacy, and secures one’s right to privacy in terms of online tracking, personal profiting, unsolicited marketing tactics, and nonconsensual data harvesting by third parties. Similarly, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) addresses data protection regardless of data type, giving users multiple rights and powers over where and with whom their data is shared. In the United States, state-specific legislation gives users rights related to the processing of their personal information. California, Colorado, and Virginia are only a few of the many states that outline specific guidelines for how data and private information is handled.

    If too many users refuse to consent to sharing their data, businesses struggle to gather sufficient data and analytics may be rendered useless. When websites are unaware of the proportion of consenting users, what cohort is reflected in collected data, and if a sufficient sample is present to make accurate optimizations, it is increasingly difficult for businesses to make accurate inferences about user behavior. In addition, if these regulations are violated, there are heavy fines associated with non-compliance. In May 2018, the EU issued over 800 fines, and to date, big name companies like Amazon and Google have incurred millions of dollars in fines. It is tedious for users to read the consent agreement and give permission to a website to store their data, therefore a smaller proportion of users are consenting, leaving companies with insufficient information and a higher likelihood of fines and violations.

    There is now a new approach to online privacy law compliance that allows businesses to make the most of the data that they have in an ethical way. This measurement methodology involves collecting data anonymously without the use of cookies, and suggests that websites prompt users to provide a login or to register early in the user funnel. Both of these methods will allow for data collection in common scenarios where consent is not necessary or when it is given voluntarily under the guise of account creation with a certain business or web page. This data is vital to marketers and users alike, as it allows a company to make informed decisions about their user’s interests in the most ethical way, which is important to customers. Data in today’s world is so powerful, and it’s important to present the best tools to harness that power, lawfully.

    Data Collection in a Post-Cookie World
    Source: InfoTrust
  • EU Prepares to Crack Down on Big Tech, Unveils Sweeping Measures

    EU Prepares to Crack Down on Big Tech, Unveils Sweeping Measures

    The European Union has unveiled sweeping measures to crack down on Big Tech and increase competition across the industry.

    The EU has unveiled the Digital Markets Act (DMA), aimed specifically at “gatekeeper” companies, according to The Verge. Gatekeepers are companies with a market cap of at least $82 billion, at least 45,000 active users, and that run a “platform.” Such criteria would cover Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, but could also cover smaller companies and services as well.

    Messaging, in particular, is a likely focus of the DMA, with the EU looking to force services like Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and WhatsApp to “open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms, if they so request.”

    The DMA would include a number of other provisions, including stopping gatekeepers from preferring their own apps and services, as well as giving users the ability to uninstall default apps that come on their devices, and even choose which apps they want to use during install and setup.

    Companies that sell or do business on a given platform would be entitled to access performance metrics from that platform. Similarly, companies that advertise on a platform would be given a way to independently confirm the performance of their advertising efforts.

    The penalties for failure to comply would be severe, including up to 10% of a company’s annual worldwide revenue and periodic penalties up to 5% of its daily earnings. Most notably, the EU would also have the authority to enforce “behavioral and structural remedies.” This could including mandating that a company change how it operates its platform or service, and could even include forcing a company to spin off portions of its business, if the anti-competitive concerns cannot otherwise be addressed.

    This is why, in the Digital Markets Act, there is a full toolbox where the sanctions become more and more severe,” the EU’s Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager told The Verge. “The fines will increase if you do not implement changes. Eventually, in the toolbox, there’s also the tool that you can actually break up a company if no change is happening, or if you are a repeat offender.”

    The DMA represents the single largest effort by the EU to reign in the power and influence of Big Tech, combining a number of different efforts into one comprehensive piece of legislation. The legislation has not passed yet but, given the momentum that’s been building in the EU, it’s almost certainly going to pass sooner rather than later.

  • Tim Cook: ‘We’re Not Against Digital Advertising’

    Tim Cook: ‘We’re Not Against Digital Advertising’

    Tim Cook has set the record straight that Apple is not against digital advertising, it simply wants to give consumers more control.

    Apple is at odds with the advertising industry over changes to iOS. Apple recently began enforcing privacy labels, forcing app developers to disclose what user information they collect and track. iOS will soon include App Track Transparency (ATT), forcing apps to ask users for permission to track them.

    Unfortunately, the advertising industry seems to suffer the belief that it has an inalienable right to track users, and build detailed profiles of them, with or without their permission. Thankfully, Apple is opposed to that view, and holds to the idea that people should be able to decide for themselves whether they are tracked and profiled — not the have the decision made for them by advertisers.

    In an interview with the Toronto Sun, via AppleInsider, CEO Tim Cook clarified the company’s stand.

    “We’re not against digital advertising,” Cook said. “I think digital advertising is going to thrive in any situation, because more and more time is spent online, less and less is spent on linear TV. And digital advertising will do well in any situation. The question is, do we allow the building of this detailed profile to exist without your consent?”

    Cook framed Apple’s actions in the context of protecting its users.

    “We feel so much that it’s our responsibility to help our users be able to make this decision. We’re not going to make the decision for them. Because it’s not our decision either. It should be each of ours’ as to what happens with our data. Who has it and how they use it,” Cook continued.

    Cook also addressed why companies like Facebook and Procter & Gamble are so opposed to Apple’s efforts. P&G has even gone so far as to work with a Chinese ad agency to find ways of bypassing ATT.

    According to Cook, these companies are only concerned because they’re facing a reality where they may not have access to the same amount of data as before, and they would only lose that access if customers choose not to give it to them. Rather than accept that change, their approach is: “You don’t want to give us access to all your data, so we’re going to try to find ways around your choice and collect your data anyway.”

    Regardless of whether you’re an Apple or Android user, Apple’s stance on privacy is a refreshing one — one where the customer comes first.

  • We Are a Marketplace That Sells Demand Generation, Says Grubhub CEO

    We Are a Marketplace That Sells Demand Generation, Says Grubhub CEO

    “We are a marketplace that sells demand generation,” says Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney. “We sell growth. That’s what our primary product is. We’re not a logistics company. We do logistics because we know that’s an end to get to restaurant growth and make money off our logistics. The gross margins on the logistics are not fabulous. The gross margins on the demand generation are fabulous which is why I differentiate between a logistics company and demand gen company. If you’re selling consumers, you’re selling growth, and you can charge a lot for that.”

    Matt Maloney, CEO of Grubhub, discusses with Jim Cramer on CNBC how Grubhub is in the business of driving growth for restaurants and is not just a logistics company:

    The American Public Has Just Adopted Digital Ordering

    This is our fifth anniversary of our IPO. The market now is ten times what I thought it was five years ago. It’s because the American public has just adopted digital ordering as their preferred way to engage with their local restaurants. We are not just marketing to Millennials. We are marketing on national television across all channels, all time zones, and hitting all segments. We just see that people realize that digitally ordering on their app or on their desktop is just easier.

    Of course, our ad campaign is working. I wouldn’t have it on TV if it wasn’t working. You think about it this way. You know your LTV, your lifetime value of your customer, once they start ordering we know that they’re lifers. They’re on forever. We can make that revenue model and then we know how much it cost to put the ad on there. So yes, over time, as people see the ad, more and more it becomes less and less effective. But we’re nowhere near our LTV.

    https://youtu.be/qpyVP-JhToc
    Grubhub National TV Commercial

    I have always been willing to be extremely aggressive investing in the future. Historically, I was bound by the amount of money I could invest. The reception of these communications just weren’t hitting the public and they weren’t working as well. Then around the third quarter of last year, we saw that we could spend way more than we had historically. I’m just talking about effectiveness. Spending it effectively. We came to the street on our third quarter earnings call and said we see opportunity and we are going long in the fourth quarter.

    Yum Made $200 million Investment – They Believe in Our Story

    People are going to say where’s the beef, the old Wendy’s commercial. They’re like show me the money. (We don’t have Wendy’s) but everyone talks to everyone in this industry. I think over time exclusivity is just not going to happen. (We have Yum) and Yum is the biggest restaurateur in the world. YUM is an incredible brand which includes Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut. They are very forward-thinking. They invest in technology a lot and they wanted to make a fundamental partnership and we wanted to understand what the brands needed from a partner.

    Yum made a $200 million investment because they believe in our story. We didn’t need the investment because we have a very healthy balance sheet. What it did it was really bringing the support of the young brand and the franchisees into Grub. As a tight partnership, we’re able to execute on technology and growth for them in a way that nobody else in the industry is doing right now. I totally disagree (that we aren’t making money from this partnership).

    We Are a Marketplace That Sells Demand Generation

    We are a marketplace that sells demand generation. We sell growth. That’s what our primary product is. We’re not a logistics company. We do logistics because we know that’s an end to get to restaurant growth and make money off our logistics. The gross margins on the logistics are not fabulous. The gross margins on the demand generation are fabulous which is why I differentiate between a logistics company and demand gen company.

    If you’re selling consumers, you’re selling growth and you can charge a lot for that. That’s the profitable side. Everyone else in my industry is a logistics company which has razor thin margins. One of my competitors said they’re the next FedEx. Do you really want to be the next FedEx? There’s the multiple that we can get as marketplaces and there’s the multiple that logistics companies can get.

    Everyone Would Prefer to Order Digitally

    I think that everyone in the country would prefer to order digitally than order on the phone. That’s why we acquired Tapingo. It’s an incredible acquisition because it gives us further scale on campuses. Tapingo is a pickup focused product. So here’s what you need to think about. We sell growth, we sell orders. I don’t care if that’s a pickup order, a delivery order, a self-delivery order, or a catering order.

    Everyone else in my industry only does delivery facilitated by that platform. Because we partner with the restaurants (which means) the restaurants are subsidizing part of our transaction fee, we are always cheaper. That’s what people don’t understand. There’s a lot of bait and switch pricing going on (from competitors).

    We Are a Marketplace That Sells Demand Generation, Says Grubhub CEO


  • It’s “Game On” for Buffalo Wild Wings New Brand Architecture, Says CMO

    It’s “Game On” for Buffalo Wild Wings New Brand Architecture, Says CMO

    “When I think of brand architecture it really gets to the essence of the brand,” says Buffalo Wild Wings CMO Seth Freeman. “The essence of the brand is around this idea of camaraderie and ritual and something that we like to call “game on.” It’s our ability to make sure that when folks come in to experience Buffalo Wild Wings that we have a game on mentality and that we bring them the very best of who we are.”

    Seth Freeman, Chief Marketing Officer of Buffalo Wild Wings, was recently interviewed on Adweek’s CMO Moves podcast with Nadine Dietz. Freeman discussed their new “game on” brand architecture that defines not just their new marketing strategy but really the heart of the business. “The purpose ultimately is really about inspiring legendary experiences between friends,” noted Freeman:

    Turning Good Times With Friends Into Great Times With Brothers

    When I think of brand architecture it really gets to the essence of the brand. There are three components to it in the way we framed it up.  They are the promise, the essence, and the purpose. We identified an insight out there that guys want to turn good times with friends into great times with brothers. More accurately, legendary experiences with brothers. That was the cultural insight that really framed our brand architecture.

    When we think about our purpose we defined our promise as the great American sports bar that turned game time into stories worth telling. It wasn’t just about inviting folks to watch a game. It was about translating that into an experience worth telling. That’s what folks are really looking for. That’s the promise that we deliver on every single day. That’s why we get up. That’s why folks are going out there and doing the job that they do and delivering a great experience.

    It’s “Game On” for Buffalo Wild Wings

    Our purpose ultimately is really about inspiring legendary experiences between friends. The essence of the brand is around this idea of camaraderie and ritual and something that we like to call “game on.” It’s our ability to make sure that when folks come in to experience Buffalo Wild Wings that we have a game on mentality and that we bring them the very best of who we are. We have 80,000 folks out there working across Buffalo Wild Wings and they bring it every single day.

    https://youtu.be/AkGZHYM-D90
    It’s Game Time at Buffalo Wild Wings!

    As we were talking to consumers, one of the things we learned was that some of the most impactful experiences that they talked about was with the bartenders and servers. They are influencing whether or not those folks come back. For instance, one of the most memorable experiences they talked about was the bartender remembering them when they came back.

    That is our brand architecture, but it also lends itself to things we have done in rolling out this purpose to the broader community through our Brand Champ Initiative. That really is a cultural movement that we are employing across our franchises and corporate stores. We have over 1,200 locations where folks are trained to make sure that the brand architecture is translating to a way that is meaningful to the consumers and also meaningful to the folks that are on the front lines every single day.

    It’s “Game On” for Buffalo Wild Wings New Brand Architecture


  • How to Get the Most Out of Your SEO

    How to Get the Most Out of Your SEO

    A lot has changed in the realm of search engine optimization, and there are countless SEO suggestions to follow. With so many SEO Packages available, it’s nearly impossible to know which ones to use and which to avoid. Certain core principles, however, remain constant.

    Here are some of the top techniques to get the most out of your SEO.

    Page Speed is Vital

    Once upon a time, you could get by with a slow-loading website. Everyone can probably recall an instance of having to wait more than five minutes for a website to fully load.

    That is never a pleasant experience, but it is the kiss of death in today’s market.

    A laggy page frustrates viewers and, as a result, discourages them from purchasing your product or revisiting your site.

    According to Strange Loop data, a one-second delay in loading time can result in a stunning 7% loss in conversions.

    Make Your Content Easy to Use

    People are always at the heart of SEO.

    The majority of search engine updates prioritize user-friendly content.

    In addition to the technical aspects of SEO, you should be learning about personas, human behaviors, and user trends.

    Enhance Your Backlink Profile

    You’re most likely aware of the significance of your backlink profile in search engine rankings. When authoritative sites link back to you, it says a lot about the legitimacy of your site and information.

    When search engines notice that you have a lot of links from high-authority sites, they will assume that those sites are endorsing you. As a result, they will presume that your website provides trustworthy content that viewers will find valuable.  This can progressively increase the rank of any webpage that receives a large number of high-quality backlinks, making link building highly important.

    Similarly, links from questionable or spammy websites will dramatically reduce your site’s authority. As a result, one of the most important things to do is to disavow or delete bad backlinks while attempting to gain new quality backlinks.

    Create Unique Meta Descriptions for Each Page

    A well-written meta description is one of the most critical SEO strategies that most people overlook. When Google offers up your page to search users, the meta description is the first thing they view.

    In general, search engines dislike duplication. Yes, there are instances when you need to reference a paragraph or phrase from another site (and link back to the source), but if releasing duplicate content becomes a habit, it will be virtually impossible to become a long-term success.

    Improve Your Anchor Text

    The anchor text you use to link to other pages has an impact on the SEO of your website. They assist search engines in recognizing the purpose of the page to which you are connecting. This also aids them in determining the quality of your material and its relevance to specific search queries. One of the most successful SEO tactics is to optimize your anchor text.

    All of your anchor text should add value to the readers’ experience. Your anchor text should help visitors know what pages you’re linking to so they know what to expect when they click on it. To optimize your content, use a combination of exact match, partial match, branding, and LSI keywords in your anchor text.

    Promote Your Website Vigorously

    Of course, you need to make your web content as visible as possible if you want it to draw in more traffic and rank better in search engine results. That is why content promotion is such an essential component of the SEO process. In addition to organic social media promotion, you might want to pay to advertise your content to a new and relevant demographic. Newsletters and email updates are two of the most popular methods of content promotion.

    Create Page Authority

    Page authority is one of the main factors used by search engines to determine rank. For example, if you have an experienced blog with a reputation as a go-to expert in the field, your page would most likely rank higher than those on a newer site.

    Given this, it is critical to establish your brand and authority within your field. Regular blogging, social media posting, guest writing on other sites, and simply staying active in your business are all effective strategies to establish your reputation.

    Furthermore, you should write about subjects that your consumers are interested in, which will assist you with supplying them with the most relevant information while also indicating to search engines that you write extensively about your industry.

  • The Ins and Outs of Marketing for Eager Entrepreneurs

    The Ins and Outs of Marketing for Eager Entrepreneurs

    What makes marketing so crucial when running a business? In most cases, it’s recommended to tackle marketing before just about everything else. Still, it might not be apparent to some entrepreneurs why marketing is vital. The fact of the matter is that without marketing, most companies are dead in the water. There’s little to no chance of getting the attention of the target demographic, as even the best products and services won’t matter if no one knows the business exists.

    Such is the reason why marketing – digital marketing in particular – is so crucial for the starry-eyed entrepreneur. Without a strong marketing campaign, it’s likely that your business ends up neglected by your demographic in favor of the more visible competition.

    It can be frustrating to try to tackle the problem on your own, especially when your competition is making partnerships with some of the best marketing agencies out there. Therefore, it’s vital to learn the ins and outs of marketing to ensure that you make the most out of all the opportunities presented as you maneuver your company through the industry landscape.

    Treat Your Website as a Marketing Tool

    One of the first things to consider on the road to marketing success is the idea that your primary website is the last line of defense when it comes to keeping the attention of your prospective clients. While a good marketing campaign will have people clicking on your adverts, keep in mind that it’s still your website that determines whether they stay and make a purchase.

    If the website is not properly optimized, it will likely result in a high abandonment rate. A few things to consider regarding web optimization includes:

    ●  Loading times. Quick loading times will almost always translate to online users giving your website a chance. Most people only give upwards to ten seconds for a website to catch their attention. If a good five seconds are spent waiting for the site to load, they’ll likely exit the tab and look elsewhere.

    ●  Accessibility. An accessible website can help open the door to plenty of new opportunities. For example, translation services for video content could help you grow a new demographic abroad. Closed captions will make it much easier for those with hearing problems to follow your content. Additionally, something as simple as a font size changer on your website can mean a lot for those with vision problems.

    ●  Ease of use. Developing a website for marketing is as easy as making it simple for online users to get to the checkout page. Ensure that your website is easy to navigate with a minimalist template.

    Your primary website is the last line of marketing defense, which means it’s up to you to develop a robust strategy to keep the attention of online users once you’ve turned their heads.

    Make a push for search engine optimization (SEO)

    What makes digital marketing such an integral part of business management is that it can be surprisingly easy and affordable to get your start. All you need is a robust SEO marketing agency to help make the push toward marketing success. A link-building agency is necessary to ensure that your company spreads the word far and wide, and agencies such as Ocere can offer you the opportunities you need.

    Develop Your Company’s Personality Online

    Another crucial part of marketing involves building your company’s personality with the help of social media platforms. Staying active in such platforms gives eager entrepreneurs the chance to interact with potential customers and even offers a convenient hub for feedback. How your company responds to feedback will determine how your demographic views your business.

    Aside from the various tips above, it’s all about learning from your chosen marketing agencies. The professionals can teach you the best-practice methods you need to make a difference and develop a sound marketing strategy. After all, it would be a wasted opportunity to let the professionals do all the work when you have just as many opportunities to improve your company’s reputation.