Pratik Dholakiya says, “Before the days of the internet and Facebook statuses, marketing was a constant uphill battle for a lot of startups and small businesses. Today, it is still an uphill battle. However, digital marketing has made the task of establishing a business presence much less intimidating. In fact, some might argue that it levels the playing field and gives the smaller guys an opportunity to shine in a way the big enterprises simply cannot. There are a number of reasons why the market will always root for the underdog. As startups and small to medium sized businesses know, they... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “One of the most successful features of Bing Ads has been Google Import, which lets advertisers port over existing AdWords campaigns into Bing Ads. It has significantly spurred adoption by making it mostly effortless to give the platform a chance. Now, Bing Ads is adding Automated Imports for campaigns ported from AdWords. With Automated Imports, advertisers no longer have to remember to update ad copy. By scheduling imports, changes made in Adwords campaigns — ad copy, extensions, budgets and so on — can be automatically updated in Bing. Scheduled imports can be set... [...]

Matt Mansfield says, “We’ve collected these display advertising statistics from a variety of sources. If you’re unsure of the differences between the different types of display advertising, there’s an explanation beneath the statistics. Banner Ads Statistics Banner ads have been hit hard over the past few years: – Approximately 30 percent of Internet users say they find traditional banner advertising distracting and will actively avoid sites where the ads interfere too much with content. – 92 percent of online ads aren’t even noticed. – Ad blocking is blamed for... [...]

Sarah Perez says, “Consumer watchdog groups, CCFC, Public Citizen, and the Center for Digital Democracy, are again targeting the deceptive advertising practices of “influencer marketing” in a new complaint filed with the FTC on Friday. The groups specifically call out Google’s YouTube and YouTube Kids, Disney-owned Maker Studios, Dreamworks’ AwesomenessTV and others, as being involved in this damaging practice. “Influencer marketing,” by way of background, is referencing the way popular content creators and video stars will distribute ads and other commercial material, without... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google appears to be running a limited test for local inventory ads (LIA) on mobile that looks like a shopping ad-ification of the Local Pack. Spotted on mobile by Mike Blumenthal on a search for “engagement rings Buffalo,” the result shows a map with a couple of LIAs below it where local pack results would typically show. I have been able to replicate the result in the Google mobile app. Here the ads are for two different rings at two different Kohl’s locations in the area, signified by the respective shopping icons on the map above the ads. Clicking on either... [...]

Carlton Doty says, “My colleagues Melissa Parrish, Richard Joyce, Susan Bidel and I spent a lot of time since the US Presidential election researching the effect of the so-called “fake news” epidemic. Why is this so prominent, and why now? The truth is this 2016 election cycle shed an enormous spotlight on a nagging problem for advertisers that existed long before the era of WikiLeaks, PizzaGate, and Breitbart News Network. Today we revealed a new report that assesses the challenge ahead for advertisers, outlines the risks to brands, and provides a prescription for how to protect the... [...]

Megan Totka says, “When done correctly, advertising can attract new customers, build sales to boost your bottom line and enhance your reputation.  This is why more than $180 billion were spent in advertising in the United States in 2015. With so many digital tools available, it can be hard to know where to start.  As you work to drive additional traffic to your website, take a look at these ways you can market your small business. How to Advertise Your Business Display Advertising Businesses use display ads to highlight their products on websites in a variety of formats such as video,... [...]

Joe Pulizzi says, “In this first official podcast of 2017, Joe and Robert discuss the ad fraud “Methbot” issue and what it means for programmatic advertising. The boys rip to pieces a 2017 trends post, and then outline why native advertising is not the savior some experts thought it was – for either publishers or brands. Rants and raves include the history of video games and Generation Z. This week’s TOM example: Purina’s Chase the Chuck Wagon. 1. Content marketing in the news Methbot – an ad fraud scheme costs advertisers $3 million per day (11:03): Russian hackers are back... [...]

Christi Olson says, “Impression share is an interesting paid search metric. On the surface, you could argue that impression share is a fairly useless metric. In fact, I’ll admit that I’ve argued for years that impressions really aren’t an important measure of paid search success. However, while I still strongly believe that ROI — not impressions, clicks or conversions — is the ultimate gauge of paid search success, impression share itself is far from a useless metric. In fact, after auditing thousands of paid search accounts at Disruptive Advertising, we’ve found that impression... [...]

AJ Agrawal says, “When was the last time you checked your phone? When was the last time you looked at social media or an app on your phone? I’m guessing you answered with “a few minutes ago,” or maybe at most, an hour ago. If so — you’re not alone. Americans spend over 10 hours a day on screens and about five of those hours are spent on their smartphones. Is your brand where your consumers are looking? Marketers are definitely taking note of the shift in consumer habits, which has resulted in mobile advertising spending increasing a whopping 40 percent for 2017 (it increased... [...]