Knowing Trends In Online Marketing

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Jan. 20

Are you in the corporate world of online marketing? Want to make a strong impression at work? My tip of the day: Get to know industry trends. Of course you first need to become an expert at your own business, and of course grow your numbers. Once those are on the right trajectory, however, your ability to effectively collect and communicate industry trends will help your business (especially senior management) dramatically. All companies want to benchmark themselves against others and project the future. A solid understanding of industry trends makes all of this possible.

Marin Software Whitepaper

When it comes to pay per click, how do you get solid benchmark data? You can gather some high level information from services like Compete, Hitwise, and Quantcast. Also, you can request benchmark data from your Google and Yahoo! account management teams. I highly recommend both of these strategies.

Now, there is a third way to get benchmark data, one that’s low work on your end but super high leverage. I’m talking about benchmark reports published by SEM platforms such as Marin Software. Today, I’m thrilled to share with you Marin Software’s Q4 US Online Advertising Report. I just downloaded this report (it’s free) and can say without a doubt that you do not want to pass this one up! Following are some of my favorite highlights…

  • Marin’s whitepaper offers 13 pages of outstanding data
  • Marin compiles data from over 1,000 advertisers and agencies who spend a collective 2.7 billion in annual spend
  • The whitepaper features some really interesting CPC and match type trends (we’re talking about specific and actionable PPC statistics)
  • It breaks down trends by industry: auto, B2B, education, finance, healthcare, retail, and travel
  • In addition to computers, Marin covers smartphones and tablets
  • In addition to discussing AdWords and adCenter, Marin covers Facebook trends too

Download Marin’s Q4 US Online Advertising Report tonight and go into work tomorrow as a PPC industry trend guru!

Image in this post © Marin Software

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Download The 7 Habits of Highly Effective SEM eBook

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Jan. 09

I’m a huge fan of SEM eBooks and whitepapers, I try to read them all. Today I’m thrilled to share one of the best search engine marketing eBooks I have read, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective SEM by PPC Associates.

7 Habits PPC Associates

PPC Associates, one of the top SEM agencies around, is on a roll. If you work in the Silicon Valley like me, make sure to keep an eye out for the PPC Associates Billboards on 101 near Palo Alto. They absolutely rock.

PPC Associates co-founder and CEO David Rodnitzky wrote the 7 Habits of Highly Effective SEM. This 25 page eBook is quite detailed, it’s single-spaced and offers specific strategies on how you can improve your paid search campaigns. In my opinion, this is a must-have guide for both beginners and advanced SEM gurus alike. It’s truly in-depth, one of the most comprehensive around. Following is an outline of the 7 Habits that David covers.

  • Habit #1: Choosing the Right Search Engines
  • Habit #2: Choosing the Right Keywords
  • Habit #3: Creating the Right Ad Text
  • Habit #4: Setting the Right Bids
  • Habit #5: Creating the Right Landing Pages
  • Habit #6: Setting Up the Right Reporting and Tracking
  • Habit #7: Creating the Right Targeting

It’s the beginning of a new year. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective SEM includes great strategies and tips that will spark ideas to grow your search marketing program in 2012 and beyond. After clicking this link, you simply need to enter your name, email, company, phone, and monthly budget. Upon doing so, you will be able to download the 7 Habits guide immediately. I hope you enjoy this great eBook as much as I do!

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Acquisio’s Building An Attribution Model That Works

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Oct. 25

If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you know that I’m a huge fan of Acquisio’s whitepapers, eBooks, and webinars. Today, I’m thrilled to share with you Acquisio’s latest eBook: Building An Attribution Model That Works. This free eBook totally rocks, and I highly recommend downloading it.

What Are Attribution Models?

Building An Attribution Model That Works

If you’re in the corporate world of online marketing, I’m sure you’ve heard all about attribution models. It has been a really hot topic lately, and a confusing one too. What is an attribution model? First, it involves understanding that the various marketing channels – both online and offline – work together. Rarely is a single marketing channel responsible for a conversion or sale. Rather, the various marketing channels work together, nurturing the consumer towards the sale.

Given that background, an attribution model allows marketers to take the lifetime revenue (or margin) from a sale and attribute it back to the marketing channels involved in the sales funnel. With most traditional models, the channel at the end of the funnel gets most (or all) credit. However, with a modern-day attribution model you can attribute credit back to all channels involved in a sophisticated manner. A fraction of the revenue or margin from the sale gets attributed to each channel involved in the funnel. The end result: You attribute appropriate financial credit to marketing channels so you know exactly what they’re worth (and how much to spend on them).

Acquisio’s eBook Demystifies Attribution Models

Sound confusing? It certainly can be! However, that’s where Acquisio’s Building An Attribution Model That Works comes into play. This 9-page eBook covers it all. I’m talking about diverse subjects such as:

  • Online vs. offline conversions and tying them togther
  • Pitfalls of last click attribution models
  • Multi-touch attribution models and how to build them
  • Eight easy steps to start thinking about attribution models
  • Formulating your appropriate attribution ratio
  • Seven metrics to leverage in measuring the impact of PPC on offline conversions
  • And, so much more!

I highly recommend giving this eBook a read. Attribution models are such a hot topic and whether you’re an affiliate marketer, own your own business, or manage campaigns at a direct advertiser/agency, you will want to master these concepts. They will definitely get you thinking at a strategic level and moreover empower you to optimize like never before. After downloading and reading Building An Attribution Model That Works, you may also want to check out Acquisio’s other eBooks, whitepapers, and webinars (my favorites highlighted below). Best of all, they are all free!

Image In This Post © Acquisio

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Acquisio’s Amazing Remarketing eBook

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Jun. 26

Have you heard of remarketing? How about site retargeting? These are some seriously hot topics right now in the world of online marketing. Site retargeting, now available in all Google AdWords accounts, allows you to serve display (or text) ads to users who have visited your website. The applications are incredible. Just think: You can now deliver a special offer to someone who got all the way down your conversion funnel but stopped one step short. Or, you can target someone who visited your homepage but left to compare prices on other sites. It’s a truly amazing technology, but one that could also be confusing!

Acquisio Remarketing eBook

Today, I am thrilled to share with you the most comprehensive guide on site retargeting I have ever seen, the guide that will teach you everything you need to know! Our friends at Acquisio, the leading performance media platform for agencies, have done it again! Today, I’ll be reviewing Acquisio’s free 13 page remarketing eBook titled Using Remarketing To Drive Increased Display Ad Results.

What You’ll Learn About Site Retargeting

Acquisio has a long history of putting out amazing eBooks, whitepapers, and webinars. Some of my favorites include Acquisio’s Display Advertising eBook and Acquisio’s Facebook Webinar. Their brand new remarketing eBook, however, takes it all to the next level. Here are a few of my favorite highlights:

  • The eBook offers an amazing, comprehensive guide to setting up your first AdWords site retargeting campaign, with eight steps. Even better, each step includes a screenshot. This really is the best how-to documentation I have seen on site retargeting.
  • Acquisio offers clever ad copy and landing page ideas, catered to site retargeting campaigns. I especially enjoyed a neat SnapTotes case study.
  • I learned about advanced topics such as frequency capping and building interactive creatives.
  • The eBook closes out with really cool ideas that will get you thinking. Just one example: Site retarget visitors who converted one month later, in an attempt to get further sales.

So there you have it, one of my favorite eBooks of all time. I highly recommend downloading Acquisio’s Remarekting eBook. After entering some really quick info, you will get a link to the eBook in your email, just moments later. It’s super easy!

Image of Acquisio Website © Acquisio

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Marin Software’s Free Guide To Facebook Ads

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May. 11

I’m a huge fan of Marin Software and have personally leveraged this amazing SEM platform to manage multi-million dollar campaigns. Not only does Marin have an amazing platform and team (including Matt Lawson who I interviewed here on PPC Ian), but they have been offering some seriously great whitepapers – for free! Last time, I reviewed Marin’s Optimization Beyond Bidding whitepaper. Today, I’m absolutely thrilled to review Marin’s brand new whitepaper: The Search Marketer’s Guide to Successful Facebook Ads.

Highlights From Marin’s Facebook Ads Whitepaper

The Search Marketer's Guide To Successful Facebook Ads

There’s no doubt about it: Facebook Ads are taking off. Whether you’re an affiliate marketer or a corporate marketing professional, Facebook has become critical to the success of any marketing program. For this reason, I highly recommend downloading Marin’s free whitepaper. Here are some of my favorite highlights:

  • Marin’s whitepaper is free and super easy to download it. You can download right after filling out some really easy info (no email confirmation required).
  • Marin interviewed the largest Facebook advetisers around and compiled their tips and tricks into an easy to digest format.
  • You’ll learn how to leverage your existing fan base to build powerful paid campaigns.
  • You get to tap into an exclusive Razorfish case study, one of the top online marketing agencies around.
  • Marin shares a really neat root analysis concept, a creative and algorithmic way of generating new likes and interests.
  • In addition to tactical tips anyone can put to good use, Marin discusses some of the amazing Facebook features available in their application (with screenshots): Audience segmentation and creative rotation.

So there you have it! One of the can’t miss whitepapers of 2011. I highly recommend downloading The Search Marketer’s Guide to Successful Facebook Ads. I’m going to leave you with an awesome quote from Marin’s whitepaper: “Consumers exposed to a brand’s social media content are actually 50% more likely to click on paid search ads and 1.7 times more likely to purchase through search.”

Image in this post © MarinSoftware.com

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