Ryan Phelan says, “I’ve been in the email marketing industry for fifteen years, and have seen firsthandwhat works and even what doesn’t work in email testing and optimization programs. So here are some tips and tactics from my email marketing experience to help you in your testing efforts. Headlines, headlines, headlines Subject lines are always popular email items to test and for good reason – the subject line and the From field are the first two things an email recipient will see with your email send. There’s plenty of information and misinformation out there on what... [...]

Mike O’Brien says, “Most advertisers don’t think they’re affected by bots. But since more than half of the Internet’s traffic is not human – though it’s not necessarily nefarious – that assumption is most likely false. It’s no secret that fraudulent traffic costs advertising billions every year. But surprisingly few think their sites are affected. According to Distil Networks’ 2015 Digital Publisher’s Guide to Measuring and Mitigating Non-Human Traffic, only 37 percent of advertisers think non-human traffic has a significantly negative... [...]

Mike O’Brien says, “Video is getting bigger and bigger, but where is it going? According new research, programmatic video buying and branded video content are just two areas marketers should focus on in the future. Since last year, digital video ad spend has swollen 42 percent to 7.46 bn, a number that is expected to nearly double by 2019. With all that projected growth, it’s difficult to predict where video will go, though new research has made it easier to digest. On Wednesday, AOL released its annual State of the Video Industry Report, which surveyed 295 agencies, brands and... [...]

Angie Pascale says, “Now that Facebook Lead Ads are available to all advertisers, B2B and B2C marketers can utilize the social platform as a tool to help cultivate relationships and nurture leads. With so many social networks focused on courting e-commerce brands with new Buy Now buttons and product focused ads, it’s nice to see Facebook providing a new feature focused on relationship building andlead nurturing. Last week, Facebook opened up their Lead Ads program to all advertisers. Originally announced in June of this year, Facebook Lead Ads were initially tested by a small group... [...]

Yuyu Chen says, “Millennials are taking over as parents. How can you connect with them with innovative marketing approaches? More than 80 percent of new moms in the U.S. are millennials, according to 2015 stats from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Millennial moms are different from their previous generations: they are more involved in modern parenting and believe in a large pool of social media networks. As modern moms’ digital behaviors are changing, how can you improve your marketing strategy to connect with them? Find the emotional truth in modern moms’ lives When you build... [...]

Mike O’Brien says, “”Perfect” is subjective, but new data shows the optimal number of words in a subject header and what kind of language to use in a promotion, among other traits that make the ideal email. Because so many things go into marketing emails – when to send them, how often to send them, what to write, what to highlight – how do you make one perfect? Though it’s a subjective question, Retention Science, a retention marketing company from Los Angeles, did research in order to quantify email traits, such as exactly how many words a subject line... [...]

Tessa Wegert says, “Advertisers that are currently in the process of churning out holiday marketing campaigns in anticipation of the upcoming shopping season should take note of these five digital trends. Holiday marketing is well underway, but it’s never too late to assess what this year’s season has in store. Though it may only be October, 27 percent of consumers are already shopping for the holidays – and have been since last month. A recent survey on holiday trends of 2015 conducted by digital marketing agency SessionM found that – in total – close to 60 percent... [...]

Mike O’Brien says, “Brands tweet about trending topics all the time, but they don’t always use the platform’s powerful reach in order to promote themselves beyond a Twitter conversation. Brands tweet about trending topics all the time – we write about it every Friday. If something gains enough viral traction, like the dress that was definitely blue and black or the UNIQLO fitting room sex tape incident, we’ll even write about it on a different day of the week. But all too often, brands let their contributions to the conversation live and die on Twitter. They... [...]

Elizabeth Marsten says, “Now that Amazon Text Ads are obsolete and the holiday shopping season is just weeks away, PPC marketers need to regroup and consider alternative platforms for their ad campaigns. Just two months ago I wrote an article for Search Engine Watch titled, Amazon Text Ads: To Do or Not To Do? This post is now a shining example of just how things move fast in the digital marketing industry, as Amazon Text Ads have already been rendered obsolete. At least this time it’s not because six other features and a newly skinned UI have been launched. Instead, it’s for a less progressive... [...]

Mike O’Brien says, “The amount of money mobile marketers lose due to a lack of viewability is substantial, but unsurprising. Awareness of the imperfections within current industry standards can help limit losses. Mobile marketers lost $10 billion during the first half of this year due to a lack of viewability, according to new research by mobile ad tech company S4M. Twenty billion dollars can buy you about 37 hours worth of Super Bowl advertising. In other words, a ton of money. How can brands lose less of it? A look at the numbers From January through June, S4M looked at 30 mobile... [...]