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luni, 9 decembrie 2013
A Gingerbread White House
The Future of Content: Upcoming Trends in 2014
The Future of Content: Upcoming Trends in 2014 |
| The Future of Content: Upcoming Trends in 2014 Posted: 08 Dec 2013 03:16 PM PST Posted by StephanieChang We've entered a fortuitous time to be involved in the digital marketing space. Almost half of the global population now has access to the internet, the way consumers consume content is rapidly evolving, and with that comes an exciting array of challenges and opportunities. This post specifically focuses on the trends that lay ahead for content marketers and the role they play within an organization. Having a concrete understanding of upcoming trends is important in laying the foundation for defining the content goals within an organization and deciding where resources should be allocated. Trend 1: Competition to gain consumers' attention will increasePosting new, unique content regularly on your site is NOT enough. Each day there are around 92,000 new articles posted on the internet. Digital media publishers have created systems to produce the greatest amount of content at the lowest price. For example, The Huffington Post produces at least 1,200 pieces of content a day, and Forbes produces 400 (with 1,000 contributors). It's not just from publishers; WordPress users produce about 35.8 million new posts each month. Smaller businesses won't be able to compete based on sheer volume. So how can a site differentiate itself in this market? This is where the development of a content strategy can come into play. It's extremely helpful to understand a company's unique value proposition, and if the company doesn't have one, to understand where the opportunities are in the space to create one. For B2C companies, it can be identifying the company's existing target audience and promoting the brand as an advocate for a particular lifestyle. For B2B companies, it is often times about positioning your brand to be the ultimate authority or source of knowledge in a specific industry/niche. When developing a content strategy, it's important to evaluate the product that the business sells. Evaluating a product doesn't mean identifying the features or solely understanding the benefits of the product. It actually means understanding the marketability of the product. For instance, is the product a "think" product or a "feel" product? Does the product require high involvement or low involvement from the consumer? Using the FCB grid developed by Richard Vaughn is a useful tactic. A "think" product is one where a consumer heavily considers before purchasing. These type of products usually involve a high amount of research and personal effort by the consumer before purchasing. A "feel" product is one where emotion plays a pivotal role in the buying process. A "high involvement" product is one where the consumer is heavily involved in the buying decision. These products are generally more expensive, but not from just a fiscal perspective. It can also be something that once purchased, will require a lot more time to change, or it has significantly more impact from a long-term perspective. For instance, opening a retirement account is a "high involvement" purchase. A wallpaper purchase is also a "high involvement" purchase. "Low involvement" products tend to err on a more impulsive or spur-of-the moment purchase. Once a consumer decides they need this product, not much time will be spent researching because it involves a low margin of error if a decision was incorrectly made. The price of the product is usually low. If the product the company sells is a "high involvement"/"think" product, the consumer is going to spend significantly more time researching the product, including reading/watching product reviews, identifying product features, assessing if this purchase is worth the cost, etc. As a result, the content strategy for such a product should involve plenty of information on the product features, the benefits of the product, as well as growing the product and brand awareness, so that consumers will both discover and search for the product. If the product the company sells is a "low involvement"/"feel" product, more time should be invested to connecting with consumers and appealing to their emotions. These products should also focus their efforts on building brand loyalty and retention of customers because these products tend to be repeat purchases. Julian Cole, the Head of Comms Planning at BBH, breaks down this process in great detail in his "Working Out the Business Problems" slide deck. Trend 2: Determining the key metrics to measure content's success will be more importantTraditionally, traffic and page views have been the longstanding metrics to gauge a piece of content's success by. Although there are clear value propositions in having increased traffic (such as increased brand awareness and increased/potential revenue for publishers and bloggers), these metrics on their own can be misleading. More importantly, solely focusing on traffic and page views as a metric of success can lead to unintentional behaviors and misguided motivations. These can include an overemphasis of click-worthy headlines, overuse of keywords in a title, and changing the focus from creating content for users (building for the long-term) to creating content for page views (short-term wins). Ultimately, determining the right metrics for an organization's content depends on the goals for the content. Is it to maintain an engaged community/develop brand advocates, build brand awareness, and/or to convert users into paying customers? Perhaps it is a combination of all 3? These are all difficult questions to answer. At Distilled, we're currently working with clients to help them define these metrics for their content. Sometimes, the best option is to use a combination of metrics that we want to analyze and target. For some clients, a key metric could be combining organic traffic + % returning visitors + tracking changes in bounce rate and time on site. For instance, if a user finds exactly what they're looking for and bounce, that's not necessarily bad. Perhaps, they landed on an ideal landing page and found the exact information they were looking for. That's a fantastic user experience, especially if the users have a long time on site and if they become a returning visitor. Looking at any metric in isolation can lead to tons of wrong assumptions and while there is not a perfect solution, combining metrics can be the next best alternative. For other businesses, social metrics can be a great conversion metric for content pieces. A Facebook like or a Twitter retweet signals some engagement, whereas a share, a comment, or becoming a "fan" of a Facebook page signals a potential brand advocate. Although a share or a new "fan" on a Facebook page may be worthy more, all these activities demonstrate the ability of a piece to gain a user's attention and that awareness is worth something. Content Marketing Institute has a great list of key metrics that B2B and B2C companies use to measure the effectiveness of their content. Trend 3: Increased interest in content integration (content will be produced for multiple channels)Some of the biggest challenges involved in content often times have nothing to do with content. For many of my clients, the biggest struggles usually involve decisions regarding proper resource allocation - lack of time to implement all of the goals, lack of budget to implement these strategies in an ideal way, and the constant battle with readjusting priorities. These hard constraints make marketing especially challenging, especially as more and more channels develop and digital innovation advances so quickly. While there is no perfect solution to this problem, the next best alternative to balancing out hard resource constraints with the constant need for innovation is to develop better integration methodologies. A poll of CMOs have put integrated marketing communications ahead of effective advertising when it comes the most important thing they want from an agency. Why is this so important? It's because there is a change in the way consumers shop. Accenture conducted global market research on the behaviors of 6,000 consumers in eight countries. One of the top recommendations was the important of providing consumers with a "seamless retail experience." This means providing an on-brand, personalized, and consistent experience regardless of channel. That seamless experience will require content to be heavily involved in a multitude of channels from online to in-person in order to provide potential and current customers with one consistent conversation. The chart below shows statistics about the way Millennials shop. Although Millennials tend to be exceptionally digitally-savvy (especially when it comes to social media), studies show they still like to shop in retail/brick-and-more stores. Millennials use the internet to research and review price, products, value, and service and have shown to have an impact on how their parents shop. The integration of content does not apply to just consumer retail stores. For instance, British Airways has a billboard in London that is programmed to show a kid pointing to a flying British Airways plane every time one passes over the billboard. Here is the video that shows how the billboard works. Last year, AT&T launched a 10,000 foot digitally enhanced store to showcase an apps wall, as well content dedicated to lifestyle areas, like fitness, family, and art. Start-up food blog, Food52 (who is starting to go into ecommerce) is launching a holiday market pop-up store in NYC. Content Marketing Institute's 2014 Report for B2B content marketers indicates that B2B content marketers still view in-person events as their most effective tactic. The seamless transition of content from online marketing channels (via social media conversations, PPC and display ads, and content on the site via case studies and videos) to in-person conversations and consumer experience will only grow in importance. Trend 4: Experimentation with content in new mediumsTechnology and digital innovation are experiencing rapid increases in growth. PCs are now a small percentage of connected devices, wearables, and smart TVs are about to go mainstream. As competition for attention increases, companies will be increasingly willing to experiment with content in new mediums to reach their intended audiences. This graph is just one depiction of how quickly technology evolves. As marketers, having the ability to quickly adapt and scale to new trends/opportunities is critical. This past year, marketing agency, SapientNitro, released a 156-page free guide entitled Insights 2013 that talks in detail about some of these trends, such as in-store digital retail experiences, the future of television, sensors and experience design, and customer experience on the move to name a few. One of their case studies talks about Sephora. Sephora has developed great content in retail stores, such as several interactive kiosks that allow users to explore different fragrances or gain understanding about skincare. IPads surround the store that provide how to makeup tips and items can be scanned to reveal product information. Sephora's mobile app has content that speaks to their core customer base and is in line with their other online and social media content. All of the content can be easily shared via email or through social networks. Other brands, such as Nivea mixed print advertising with mobile innovation. In this case, Nivea's print ad also doubled as a solar ad charger for phones. Finally, PopTopia is a mobile game that has a mobile phone attachment, called Pop Dangle that will emit the smell of popcorn as you play the game. The game works because the attachment plugs into the audio jack and at a certain frequency, it will signal to spread the smell of popcorn. These examples all show brands who have embraced new mediums for content. 2014 will be an exciting time for the future of content. As technology evolves and competition for user attention increases, marketers need to be agile and adapt to the growing needs and expectations of their customers. The future of businesses will absolutely be critical upon businesses having a very clear unique value proposition. Why is this so crucial? This is the pivotal foundation from which marketing strategies and execution will grow. Our job as marketers is to use that information to pinpoint the metrics we need to measure and prioritize all future marketing strategies. This task is very difficult, but our role is to continue to embrace these challenges in order to seek solutions. Now is the ideal time to begin. Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. 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Seth's Blog : Heroes of the revolution
Heroes of the revolution
Isn't it odd that the US had so many statesmen during the late 1700s?
What a coincidence that so many great jazz musicians were born in the 1920s and 30s.
How come so many of the attendees at the 1927 Solvay Conference went on to win the Nobel Prize in physics?
It seems like we had tons of genius graphic designers working in the 1960s, then, somehow, the well ran dry.
Of course, this is silly. We didn't get the rock of the 1960s or the Miles Davis Quartet or the design revolution because there were a bunch of gifted artists standing around. No, those artists showed up and shared their best work precisely because there was a revolution going on.
Rapid change exposes the work of outsiders, neophytes and most of all, those attracted by the chance to grow, fast.
Rapid change sweeps aside the status quo and those that defend it (the stuck former geniuses and the stuck bureaucrats). It replaces them with those willing to leap.
Revolutions make heroes at least as much as heroes make revolutions.
More Recent Articles
- In search of the obvious answer
- Winner take all vs. local
- What kind of media counts?
- A legacy of Mandela
- The moderation glitch
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duminică, 8 decembrie 2013
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
| US Spends $1 Billion on Russian Helicopters for Afghan Military: Why? Posted: 08 Dec 2013 07:26 PM PST According to a top secret 2010 report the Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter is better then the US-made Chinook helicopter built by Boeing in Pennsylvania. Army Secretary John McHugh wrote in a 2011 memo "that the Mi-17 stands apart" when compared with other helicopters. Another study shows the Chinook was found to be "the most cost-effective single platform type fleet for the Afghan Air Force over a twenty year" period. This has the Christian Science Monitor and many others asking Why is US buying Russian helicopters for Afghan military? Higher Quality Questions I am not qualified to comment on which helicopter is better. Instead I want to ask a higher quality question: What the hell are we still doing in Afghanistan? We should have declared the war won 10 years ago and left. Better yet, we should not have gone there at all in the first place. Based on that simple logic, we should buy neither the Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters nor the Boeing Chinook for Afghanistan. Either way, I wonder if the real reason we bought Russian helicopters is fear for what happens to Chinook technology once we leave Afghanistan and the country falls to the Taliban once again. Regardless of "why" many important high-level questions remain. Open Questions
Addendum: Here is the rationale for the Mi-17 There is no reasonable rationale for being in Afghanistan for 13 years Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Posted: 08 Dec 2013 12:54 PM PST The Washington Post reports Majority of youngest voters would recall Obama. Young people, who played a major role in putting President Obama in the White House in 2008 and keeping him there after 2012, now say they would vote to recall the president if given the chance.I am not sure how the Washington Post calculated the first breakdown unless they had more access to the data. Let's head straight to the Harvard Survey of Young Americans' Attitudes toward Politics and Public Service. Here are some questions I found particularly interesting. 6. For whom did you vote for president in 2012? Barack Obama ................................................ 55% Mitt Romney .................................................. 33% Someone else ................................................. 4% Don't remember ............................................. 1% Decline to answer ........................................... 6% 7. If you could re-cast your 2012 vote for president today, for whom would you vote? Barack Obama ................................................ 46% Mitt Romney .................................................. 35% Someone else ................................................. 13% Decline to answer ........................................... 7% 11. Do you consider yourself to be politically engaged or politically active? Yes ............................................................. 22% No .............................................................. 75% Decline to answer ........................................ 3% 12. All in all, do you think things in the nation are...? Generally headed in the right direction .......... 14% Off on the wrong track ................................... 49% Not sure what direction country is headed in . 34% Decline to answer ........................................... 3% 13. Do you consider yourself to be a supporter of the Tea Party movement, or are you not a supporter of the Tea Party movement? Supporter ........................................................ 11% Not a supporter ............................................... 45% Not sure .......................................................... 41% Refused .......................................................... 4% 15. In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of Barack Obama as president. Approve .......................................................... 41% Disapprove ..................................................... 54% Decline to answer ........................................... 5% Some questions were split between asking about "Obamacare" or the "Affordable Care Act". Answers were similar regardless of the term used. 23. Do you approve or disapprove of [The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare], the comprehensive health reform package that President Obama signed into law in 2010? A. The Affordable Care Act. (n=1,042) Approve .......................................................... 39% Disapprove ..................................................... 56% Refused .......................................................... 5% B. Obamacare (n=1,047) Approve .......................................................... 38% Disapprove ..................................................... 57% Refused .......................................................... 5% 24. Do you believe that your quality of care will get better, get worse or stay about the same under [The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare]? A. The Affordable Care Act. (n=1,042) Get better ........................................................ 17% Get worse ....................................................... 44% Stay about the same ....................................... 34% B. Obamacare (n=1,047) Get better ........................................................ 18% Get worse ....................................................... 40% Stay about the same ....................................... 37% 25. Do you believe that your amount you pay for care will increase, decrease or stay about the same under [The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare]? A. The Affordable Care Act. (n=1,042) Increase .......................................................... 50% Decrease ......................................................... 10% Stay about the same ....................................... 36% Refused .......................................................... 4% B. Obamacare (n=1,047) Increase .......................................................... 51% Decrease ......................................................... 11% Stay about the same ....................................... 34% Refused .......................................................... 4% 26. After implementation of [The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare], many Americans will be eligible to purchase private health insurance plans through government run insurance exchanges. If you are eligible, how likely are you to enroll in insurance through an exchange? [NOTE: If 18 to 25 include the clause "after you are no longer eligible to stay on your parents plan"] A. The Affordable Care Act. (n=1,042) NET: Likely to Enroll .................................. 20% Definitely will enroll ...................................... 8% Probably will enroll ........................................ 12% 50-50 .............................................................. 28% NET: Unlikely to Enroll .............................. 47% Definitely will not enroll ................................ 27% Probably will not enroll ................................. 20% Refused .......................................................... 5% B. Obamacare (n=1,047) NET: Likely to Enroll .................................. 22% Definitely will enroll ...................................... 9% Probably will enroll ........................................ 13% 50-50 .............................................................. 29% NET: Unlikely to Enroll .............................. 45% Definitely will not enroll ................................ 27% Probably will not enroll ................................. 17% Refused .......................................................... 5% 40. In May 2013, Edward Snowden, a contractor for the National Security Agency, started releasing classified documents to the media that demonstrated what he believed was an unethical collection of private data from US citizens by the US intelligence community. Based on what you know at this time,which of the following words best describes your view of Edward Snowden? A patriot ........................................................ 22% A traitor .......................................................... 22% Not sure .......................................................... 52% Refused .......................................................... 4% 41. If you found yourself in a position similar to that of Edward Snowden, would you release the classified documents to the media, or would you not release the documents? Release .......................................................... 15% Would not release .......................................... 31% Not sure .......................................................... 50% Refused .......................................................... 4% If you could choose to recall and replace various elected officials today, would you recall: 48. Your member of Congress. Yes ................................................................ 45% No .................................................................. 45% Refused .......................................................... 9% 49. All members of Congress. Yes ................................................................ 52% No .................................................................. 40% Refuse ............................................................ 8% 50. Barack Obama. Yes ................................................................ 47% No .................................................................. 46% Refused .......................................................... 7% 57. Do you have health insurance? Yes, my employer provides it ........................ 27% Yes, I am under 26 and covered by parents .. 35% Yes, I have an individual or family plan ........ 12% No, I am not enrolled in health insurance ...... 22% Refused .......................................................... 4% Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
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Here's what we're doing for the holidays:
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Seth's Blog : In search of the obvious answer
In search of the obvious answer
The obvious answer to your problem isn't obvious yet, but once someone finds it, it will be.
That's the way obvious answers work. They're not obvious because they're easy to find, they're obvious because, in fact, there's an answer.
Most problems don't have obvious answers, which is why you should demote them from the list of things worth obsessing over. Gravity, for example, is a problem with no obvious answer. You're never going to be able to fly like Superman, and the sooner you let that one go, the quicker you'll be able to work on something productive.
More Recent Articles
- Winner take all vs. local
- What kind of media counts?
- A legacy of Mandela
- The moderation glitch
- Coming to Australia, Denver, Turkey and Oslo...
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sâmbătă, 7 decembrie 2013
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
| State is an Institution of Theft (Except of Course for Politicians and their Escape Hatches) Posted: 07 Dec 2013 06:07 PM PST Here's an interesting video courtesy of a reader from the Republic of Slovenia who sent the link. Link if video does not play: State is an Institution of Theft Transcript - Godfrey Bloom - Member of European Parliament Mr. President, I am minded to quote the great American philosopher Murray Rothbard here. The state is an institution of theft. Tax is just about a system of politicians and bureaucrats who steal money from their citizens to squander in the most disgraceful manner. This place is no exception.Who is Murray Rothbard? Three cheers for a great speech on the hypocrite nannycrats. And as many Mish readers know Murray Rothbard is far beyond a "great American philosopher". As Wikipedia explains, Murray Rothbard ... "was an American economist of the Austrian School, a historian, and a political theorist whose writings and personal influence played a seminal role in the development of modern libertarianism. Rothbard was the founder and leading theoretician of anarcho-capitalism, a staunch advocate of historical revisionism, and a central figure in the twentieth-century American libertarian movement. He wrote over twenty books on anarchist theory, history, economics, and other subjects. Rothbard asserted that all services provided by the "monopoly system of the corporate state" could be provided more efficiently by the private sector and wrote that the state is "the organization of robbery systematized and writ large. He called fractional reserve banking a form of fraud and opposed central banking. He categorically opposed all military, political, and economic interventionism in the affairs of other nations. In the words of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, "There would be no anarcho-capitalist movement to speak of without Rothbard." Case Against the Fed I highly recommend two easy-to-read book by Rothbard, both available as free eBooks courtesy of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Please read the books! They are free, short, and easy to understand. They explain the fraudulent nature of the economic system we are in. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2013 12:26 PM PST Obama's National Intelligence Director, James Clapper, blatantly lied to Congress last Spring when in response to a question stated the NSA does "not wittingly" collect information on Americans in bulk. The lie was revealed thanks to American hero and true patriot, Edward Snowden. Proven a liar, Clapper now freely admits he gave the "least untruthful" answer he could without revealing classified information. The Hill reports Patriot Act author says "Obama's intel czar should be prosecuted" Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the original author of the Patriot Act, says Director of National Intelligence James Clapper should be prosecuted for lying to Congress.Nothing Beyond the Octopus Reach Infowars reports Spying Spooks Throw It In Americans' Faces With New Octopus-Engulfing-World Logo Following this year's further revelations on the NSA actively spying on Americans' communications, along with the president's promise to "reign in" the powers of US spooks, one would have expected that the government would be engaged in a damage control campaign going forward.NRO Spy Satellite  Let's hone in on the logo.  The logo reads "nothing beyond our reach". Obviously that includes Merkel's phone, and anything else the NSA wants to spy on. The NRO claims "The octopus, is a versatile, adaptable, and highly intelligent creature. Emblematically, enemies of the United States can be reached no matter where they choose to hide." To me that sounds like the "least untruthful" response without admitting what the symbol really means and what they really intend to do: spy on literally everything. Anti-Patriot Act The Patriot Act was anything but. It should be scrapped. James Clapper should be prosecuted and spend the rest of his life in prison where he can think about the true meaning of patriotism. Meanwhile, those looking for a true patriot ought to stand up and salute Edward Snowden. He risked his life, security, and personal freedom to protect the US constitution. What's more patriotic than that? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
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