Mediaboss Marketing

Jul 19, 2017 - (Newswire)

Jon H. Elder, a Sevier County native, has recently joined the team at Internet Marketing Expert Group (IMEG). He will serve as IMEGs Director of Marketing Strategy with a focus on research, strategy and analytics.

With over 20 years of experience in the tourism industry, he has become well known throughout the community. Prior to joining IMEG, he held positions with the cities of Sevierville and Gatlinburg where he worked in tourism development.

Elder is looking forward to continuing to promote the Smoky Mountain area with this exciting new opportunity and IMEG is equally as excited to have him on their team.

Elder holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Tennessee and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from Lincoln Memorial University.

Established in 2009, IMEG is a digital marketing agency that seeks to solve problems in tourism businesses while challenging business owners to think differently about how they grow their companies. For more information about IMEG, visit http://www.imegonline.com.

Original Source: https://www.newswire.com/news/internet-marketing-expert-group-hires-jon-h-elder-as-director-of-19761344

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Internet Marketing Expert Group Hires Jon H. Elder as Director of Marketing Strategy - WireUpdate

The dread of firing someone is especially intensewhen leaders have to let a well-liked employee go. Like many employers, Sam Borcia, CEO of CoFlex, has experienced this dread firsthand.

Related:How to Fire Someone So They'll Thank You For It

I 'connected' with our new client acquisition manager," Borcia told me via email from his law firm internet marketing consultantcy in Chicago."However, a week later when I asked about her first work tasks, she told me her laptop broke so she couldn't complete them. I was disappointed, but understood,

Weeks later, Borcia said, continuing his story, he realized this employee's work was still missing; reluctantly, he decided it was time to let her go.

Many business owners face some difficulty connecting with every employee on a personal level. So, when something doesn't click with a particular employee, the owner may find it challenging to terminate a likable team member.

Heres a look at how a few company leaders knew it was time to let employees they liked go, and the lessons that can be applied in similar experiences:

No matter how understanding and helpful a companys team is, they can be asked to pick up only so much slack before they begin resenting that lagging co-worker.

Jill Gugino Pante, director of the Career Services Center, in the University of Delawares Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics in Newark, Del., said she realized it was time to let an assistant go when no professional progress was made after two months.

While my assistant was well liked by everyone in the office, her work wasnt up to par. People eventually started to resent her, Pante shared with me in an email. I had to make the difficult decision, but it helped relieve tension and stress due to her unproductivity.

If this happens to you, listen closely to what employees are saying about an ineffective employee. At the first indicationthat there's an issue, create an action plan for the struggling team member. Let this personknow what needs to be improved, offer advice and extendtraining or tips to better his or her performance. Set goals. Impose a clear time line.

Its easy for companies to develop an attachment tonew hires. Unfortunately, Zachary Weiner, CEO of Emerging Insider Communications, a content relations agency in Chicago, had to fire one of the first employees he ever hired. Adding to the difficulty of the situation was thatthis person had also been at the company the longest.

Performance just kept falling and falling. However, we had an absolute great time working together. After two years of literally pulling up a company by the bootstraps, a deep relationship is easy to build, Weiner told me via email.

Related:6 Ways to Reinvigorate Your Team After Firing an Employee

To fix the situation, Weiner said, he set some clearmetrics. This helped employees understand what needed improvingand the time frame they had to make those changes.If metrics werent achieved in a certain time frame, it became a quantitative firing process, which closed the door to personal relationships providing too many chances, Weiner said.

At your company, once you've clarified performance metrics, set a schedule for evaluation meetings.

These meetings will give employees shorter deadlines to focus on, making goals feel more manageable. However, if these goals arent met within the allotted time period, terms should remain non-negotiable.

When considering letting an employee go, Dave Ramsey, CEO of Ramsey Solutions, suggests looking at the bigger picture.

I had a salesperson who was constantly struggling with his leader," Ramsey shared by email from his financial education company in Nashville. "Both of these guys were awesome and super talented. [The salesperson] made the mistake of sharing his frustrations with the sales support person in the group."

Unfortunately, he shared his thoughts with still more people. Because Ramsey Solutions is a gossip-free zone, company leaders felt they had to let him go.In the past, I struggled with keeping ineffective people too long. I thought that by delaying, I was being kind. I was not, Ramsey explained.

Many leaders, like Ramsey, feel that offering multiple chances is the nice thing to do. However, repeated efforts quickly demoralize the entire team and cause them to lose faith in leadership.

Consider your companys mission statement, values and how everyone is being affected. When just one employee isnt staying true to the core competencies and values of the company, others will feel unappreciated.

Letting go those who arent following the rules sends a clear message that leaders value those who follow the rules. Another message it sends: Those leadersare making decisions benefiting the overall good of the company.

Even the most competent entrepreneurs need the opinions of those around them to see a picture more clearly. Unfortunately, brutally honest feedback about employees we like isnt always easy to hear.

Bryan Clayton, CEO of GreenPal, a self-described"Uber for lawn care," headquartered in Nashville, was blinded by his own friendship with an employee. In fact, considering that this employee had been part of the GreenPal team for over five years, Clayton found himself wishingall other supervisors were as loyal and dedicated as this man.

Yet, he felt this way even as he received negative feedback about the employee.

Over the years, I continued to receive feedback from many of his teammates, but I always wrote it off as their problem, not his. I made up excuses for him, such as ignoring feedback coming from a problem employee, Clayton told me via email.

When you're deciding to fire an employee, one key red flag you should take note of is if multiple employees offer negative feedback. If leaders find themselves making excuses for employees, its likely there is a major issue -- even if the employee is a favorite.

Valuable feedback comes in many shapes and forms throughout an employees work-life cycle. One of the most crucial times to look to feedback is during the hiring process -- though it's not always simple or convenient to pull employees away for new-hire screenings.

Making better-informed hiring decisions greatly reduces the likelihood that employees will need to be let go. With a hiring tool like Vettery, candidates can be pre-filtered, through a rigorous screening process.

Related:11 Tips for Firing an Employee

On Vettery, candidates must apply just to be on the site, and only 5 percent who apply make the cut. That means that employers job choicesare initially easier because they have access to top-vetted candidates ready to be employed for the long haul.

Waldorf, Md.-basedHeather R. Huhmanis a career expert, experienced hiring manager and president ofCome Recommended, a content-marketing and digital-PR consultancy for job-search and human-resources technologies. She is the...

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Stop Holding on: It's Time to Let Employees You Like Go - Entrepreneur

Thanks to gender-based marketing campaigns, we finally live in a world where women can use nearly any product that originally would have been outside our realm of ability and comprehension. Because as women are so constantly reminded, if its not pink and more expensive, we simply dont know what to do with it. Behold:

Now, women are finally able to drink the manliest of man drinks: beer. Never mind the fact that women already drink a whole lot of beer, because now we can stop hiding all that shame we werent feeling! MeetAurosa, the beer for her.

The founder of the Prague-based company,Martina mrov, clearly understands the modern female experience, and our struggle to find a low-alcohol beer in a pretty bottle,topped off with an off-putting description about girlhood tenderness.

As you might imagine, Twitter has some thoughts.

After receiving a thrashing online, Aurosaposted a response on their Facebook page. It reads, Beer, wine or any alcohol has no gender. However, the beer industry is largely dominated by men. And culturally, even as more women enter the industry as brewers, pub owners, drinkers, beer can still pretty much feel like a masculine affair.

Now, thats not totally false. Despite being credited with the drinks invention, the Industrial Revolution did turn brewing into a male-dominated industry. And according to a number of polls, about a quarter of American women name beer as their favorite alcoholic beverage, compared with about 54% of men.

However, those numbers change dramatically when you look at the craft beer industry. Women make up about 25% of total beer drinkers, but 37% of craft beer drinkers. Plus, craft breweries far more likely to be woman-owned or run. Clearly, women do want to feel included as consumers of beer, and even more clearly, Beer For Her is not what were looking for. How is a for-women-only beer going to change the culture or beer to include women? Instead, the gender divide, and the message that womenshouldnt be drinking beer is only compounded with this isolation-based, stereotypically girly marketing.

In that Facebook response, the company says Aurosa was never intended to take part in sexism, feminism or the like. Which sounds like the full extent of this companys understanding of gender-based marketing was put it in a pretty bottle. It would make sense, then, that they pissed off a lot of beer drinkers not looking to be marginalized and pandered to.

They also, apparently, didnt even do a cursory Google search to make sure their claim of being the first beer for her was valid. Its not. And maybe they would have liked to have known just how quickly the others before them had folded. They probably could have used the heads up that women do not need or want this.

(H/T Hello Giggles, image: Shutterstock)

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This Beer for Her Is the Worst Gendered Marketing Since the Last Gendered Marketing - The Mary Sue

Marketing budgets are being sustained at a robust rate, but Brexit, political uncertainty, and rising inflation are impacting financial prospects, reveals Q2 2017 IPA Bellwether, released this Wednesday (19 July).

Largest expansion in marketing budgets for just under a year

Optimism regarding company financial prospects lowest in four-and-a-half years

Industry financial prospects turn increasingly negative

Modest growth in ad spend predicted in 2017 before stagnation in 2018

The Report, which has been conducted on a quarterly basis since Q1 2000, showed that over 28% of the survey panel recorded an upward revision to marketing budgets, compared to around 15% that recorded a fall. The resulting net balance of +13.1% was up from Q1 2017s +11.8% and the best recorded since Q3 2016.

Despite an upswing in marketing budgets, there was widespread evidence that higher marketing expenditure was being used as a defensive tactic. For example, as a response to fiercely competitive marketplaces, or to support brands at a time of economic uncertainty, softer demand and slower growth in incoming new work were all weighing on company expansion.

Increased marketing spend was broadly concentrated in the digital space during the second quarter, with the latest survey showing that internet budgets were raised to the greatest degree in just under a decade.

Annual ad spend forecasts through to 2020 are unchanged, driven primarily by an underwhelming performance in business investment, which is forecast to be depressed by the ongoing uncertainty caused by the UKs decision to leave the European Union; ad spend is expected to rise by just 0.6% in real terms during 2017.

Also weighing on ad spend performance will be softness in consumer spending. There are already signs from high frequency indicators of consumption that rising inflation and an associated squeeze on household purchasing power is weighing on consumer spending. This is expected to continue throughout the rest of 2017 and into 2018, and is a primary factor behind the expected stagnation of ad spend next year. A somewhat recovery is then anticipated to take place during 2019 and 2020, with ad spend forecast to rise by 1.8% and 2.3%, respectively.

Q2s survey showed that around a third of the survey panel recorded an increase in internet marketing budgets (32%), against a little over 9% of panelists that recorded a fall. That provided a resulting net balance of +22.7%, which was up sharply since Q1 2017s +16.9% and the highest reading since Q3 2007. Within internet, search/SEO (+15.6%), and mobile (+3.0%) both continued to record upward revisions to growth. The increase in spending related to search/SEO was the highest recorded by the survey for two-and-a-half years.

ExchangeWire spoke exclusively to some of the online advertising industrys top thought leaders about what the latest report means.

Wayne St. Amand, CMO, Visual IQ, feels that the positive growth seen in the report is a sign of things to come: Given the measurable impact of digital marketing efforts, its no surprise budgets in this area are rising. Pressure from revenue teams, combined with the need to produce relevant, compelling experiences for audiences as part of people-based marketing initiatives, means online investment will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

Tom Manning, head of strategy, Forward3D,agrees, citing the overcoming of industry issues as key: The brand-safety issues that have been well-publicised recently were simply a vocal minority voicing something that the industry has been aware of for a long time, even outside of digital activity. As such, the improvements in targeting, measurement, and even the buying platforms themselves, have overcome those issues, particularly for upper-funnel activity, which people are more comfortable investing in digitally now.

Mobile is one of the key drivers increasing internet budgets. Amit Dar, head of strategic partnerships, Taptica,outlines that from this latest Bellwether report, weve seen eight years of expansion in internet budgets; but discerning companies know that mobile is todays sweet spot for reaching digitally savvy customers. Smartphone penetration continues to rise and users have embraced mobile in every aspect of their personal and professional lives.

Tom Smith, head of biddable media, mporium, also points to mobile, as well as search, as strong growth areas in the report. He says: With spend on search up from +15.1% since the last quarter the highest reading we have had since the end of 2014 it is clear that marketers are recognising the growing value of search by making it a vital part of the marketing budget. Coupled with the continued increase in mobile advertising, we can see that the sector continues to go from strength to strength. With 75% of people admitting that mobile is their primary search device, search can be optimised to target consumers at the most appropriate time, when they are second-screening in the moments of highest consumer intent.

James Collier, chief revenue officer, Rainbow, feels that despite growth in adspend, those investing in mobile should proceed with caution: Its interesting to see that negativity around financial prospects is heavily contrasted with growth in consumer and ad spend, echoing the overall political uncertainty in the UK. The shift further towards performance and activation is at once a concern and an opportunity, however, as it pivots advertisers towards short-term gains, but allows room for more investment in innovative ways to digitally market.

And whilst its very positive to see an uptake in mobile, we need to make sure that were focusing on the right consumer experience and the right measures in order to gain true, measurable, business results for brands not just clicks and views.

The fact that digital is tackling problems such as brand safety and ad fraud, is key to its popularity. Gareth Holmes, MD EMEA, Sonobi,says: The internet advertising category is going through a renaissance, due to the fact that addressability has come into the picture and offers marketers ways to reliably reach their audience. It is no surprise to us that mobile is a leader in this category, as addressability is a more likely scenario in this platform.

This is echoed by Gavin Stirrat, MD, Voluum. He outlines that there has been increasing pressure on the industry to meet the needs of advertisers by offering protection from ad fraud, viewability, and brand safety, in addition to providing complete transparency. The first half of the year saw a number of brands pause their digital ad spend, as industry issues were thrust into the spotlight by both Mark Pritchard at P&G, and the Times investigation into YouTube, which followed shortly after. Despite these challenges, the cost-effectiveness of digital has meant that, despite issues surrounding ad fraud, brand safety, and viewability, it remains a vitally important part of the marketing mix.

However, the increase in mobile ad spend shows the importance of this channel. Brands now need to make sure that they are considering in-app advertising as a priority, with apps now representing 20% of consumer media time, across all channels not just mobile. As marketers continue to gain confidence in mobile advertising, it is important that the industry protects this growth from the threat of mobile ad fraud.

Some of the credit for rising digital adspend should go to publishers, according to Ally Stuart, regional director EMEA, Sharethrough. In his opinion:Marketers investing in digital advertising is fitting with the growth and enthusiasm weve seen across the industry investment continues to follow user attention and that lives in digital and, specifically, mobile.

Publishers have also made this change easier by investing in improving their ad experiences. Theyve largely moved away from intrusive, irritating ads especially on mobile and are now reaping the benefits of serving contextually relevant advertising, which is delivering tangible business results. Native advertising is key to driving this trend, where advertisers and publishers are working in partnership to build their brand, while also providing content that can turn emotional and rational perception into sales.

Chris Duncan, MD, Times Newspapers Limited, hopes that quality publishers will be able to stand out: For the publishing industry, we hope that this investment also values the context that advertising is placed in. We also support the growing (and reasonable) demand for consistent auditable third-party measurement from all media companies, including Facebook and Google.

Despite a positive outlook for digital ad spend, some experts are still advising caution. Greg Grimmer, chief operating officer, Fetch says that: Despite macroeconomic trends, marketers still have short-term sales pressures, but we believe they also need to stay focussed on long-term brand health. Advertising is always an easy discretionary cost to cut, but marketers and the advertising industry have to continue to prove the danger of this short-term approach. We need to focus on creating campaigns that drive the imperative business results demanded, while keeping brand health front of mind.

Celine Saturnino, chief commercial officer, Total Media, warns against short-termism when it comes to investing in advertising. There are two key factors fuelling the increased digital investment: the first is the continual squeeze on advertising budgets and the pressure on marketers to prove the value of their investments in a short return period. This trend automatically attracts investment for media that can be tracked more easily end-to-end and where performance has already been proven to work particularly in search, the historical home of ROI focused digital advertising.

The second motivation for bigger digital spends is focused on consumer behaviour. Audiences are increasingly spending more time online and on mobile for accessing and sharing information, researching, and purchasing. Investment typically follows this behaviour and, unfortunately in some cases, to the detriment of other channels that often better support long-term brand development and memorability, such as TV.In general, brands are growing more risk-averse when it comes to channels or budgets that favour long-term brand goals. As an industry, we need to invest in long-term effectiveness measurement and continue to demonstrate that short-term activations are exactly that short term.

Ruth Zohrer, head of connections planning, Mindshare UK, agrees that there is a danger of a short-term approach to marketing investment focused on more immediate wins to justify the budgets. The rise in internet budgets could signal that marketers are directing more investment to channels aimed at sales activation, potentially at the expense of long-term brand building. Likewise, we also need to recognise that technological advances have created new opportunities for internet channels to support brand building strategies, especially for the young.

My recommendation to fellow marketers is to keep calm and carry on. Now, more than ever, we need to create plans that allow flexibility in tactics for the short to midterm to be able to cope with ongoing uncertainty. This must be balanced by a clear strategic objectives that focus long-term marketing investment on nurturing the brand. We no longer have the luxury of favouring one over the other.

Toby Benjamin, VP platform partnerships, Viant, also sees danger on the horizon: Whilst the short-term outlook is healthy, if the IPAs predicted stagnation of ad spend materialises in 2018, then marketers will find themselves fighting hard for every penny of budget. Expect some heated exchanges between CFOs and CMOs. This means its never been more important to demonstrate the direct impact of digital marketing on sales. And its one of the key drivers for the growing switch to people-based marketing, which makes it possible to analyse the impact of digital campaigns on both on and offline sales.

Political turmoil is still an issue affecting ad spend, according to the report. Catherine Maskell, managing director, The Content Marketing Association,says that: Its not surprising that this quarters report reflects uncertainty in the current economic climate, when you consider the turbulent political landscape with Brexit and the recent general election outcome. Although, in response, its pleasing to see that there is an increase in overall marketing budgets and a substantial increase in internet marketing budgets as brands and advertisers move towards the digital space. As the reality of a post-Brexit world draws closer, changes are inevitable and a medium like content marketing will be key in giving marketers new opportunities to increase brand awareness.

Julia Smith, director of communications, Impact Radius, agrees: Its no surprise that the recent election and Brexit have unnerved the ad industry; and the prediction for a stagnation of ad spend in 2018 is not unexpected. However, digital is likely to weather the storm better than other channels, as long as the focus remains on delivering real results and increased revenue from digital marketing spend.

An uplift in performance marketing is likely to be seen in Q4, as will the higher performing video advertising. Mobile and display need to focus on ensuring that the inventory is fraud-free, brand-safe, high-quality, and delivers strong ROI.

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IPA Bellwether Report Q2 2017 - ExchangeWire (blog)

The digital marketing industry is one of the most exciting marketplaces in which to invest. Yet over the last couple of years, companies have struggled for growth.

The digital marketing space provides opportunities for both startups and veteran internet information providers. Currently, nearly every business that is serious about growth has an online selling plan as a crucial catalyst in its growth strategy.

Small businesses are also finding it easy to join the online selling community thanks to platforms like Shopify (NYSE:SHOP), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Pinterest and BigCommerce, among others that facilitate smooth entrance into this exciting marketplace.

The intersection of digital marketing with brick-and-mortar selling has led to the emergence of what is now being referred to as omnichannel marketing. This type of marketing requires businesses to integrate their online marketing strategies with their storefront operations in order to maximize conversion rates on various e-commerce platforms.

Today businesses are engaging their customers in more than one platform. We are talking about social media, Web sites and blogs, mobile phones and tablets and TV and radio as well as face to face via their storefronts.

This has been the trend for the last few years as more businesses continue to launch their online platforms to augment sales from mainstream stores. In fact, as of 2015, more than 62% of businesses indicated that omnichannel marketing was a crucial part of their marketing strategy while 70% of the businesses surveyed said they had thought about it, according to AdWeek. These numbers have obviously increased over the last two years as more businesses continue to embrace the strategy.

Some of the businesses that have launched their products and services online have experienced more success than others. And according to research, their successes could be attributed to some very basic, yet crucially important, aspects of running an online business. Reports indicate that while ranking high on Alphabets (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google search and other search engines is important, the period it takes your landing page to load can determine your conversion rates and online sales.

According to reasearch, if a Web site page takes longer than five seconds to load, the visitor abandons it almost immediately. As such, making the landing pages load faster is as crucial for any e-commerce platform as ranking higher on Google. Google shares in this goal and has recently launched new features aimed at speeding up landing pages. Last year, it launched accelerated mobile pages (AMP) and recently added a web-based version of the same in the form of accelerated landing pages (ALP) for ads and landing pages.

The AMP framework helps Web site developers design lightweight pages that load within a second thereby increasing traffic conversion rates. According to SITE123, a Web site development company that allows designers to build free Web sites with no designing or coding skills necessary, most businesses want to take full advantage of the new features launched by Google as they seek to remain competitive in the online marketing space and they want their developers to optimize their sites accordingly.

As the competition increases in the online selling space, this should boost revenue potential for digital marketing companies. In addition, more features like Outstream Video are also increasing the appeal of digital advertising.

Web site users can easily block Google image ads from displaying while they browse. The introduction of Outstream Video has proved to be a little difficult to dodge when it comes to browsing the internet and publishers are liking this change according to a post on Instapage.

From an investment perspective, most of the stocks that operate in this unique digital space have struggled over the last couple of years thereby raising questions over the long-term future of the industry.

For instance, Rubicon Projects (NYSE:RUBI) shares are down about 80% over the last 12 months while Rocket Fuel (NASDAQ:FUEL) is down nearly 90% since 2014. YuMe Inc. (NYSE:YUME) is pretty much the shining light in this category of small players in the digital marketing space after gaining more than 60% since 2015.

Overall, most of the stocks have experienced a torrid campaign over the last few years. This is despite significant revenue growth due to the increasing number of businesses that seek to capitalize on e-commerce success.

Conclusion

The digital marketing space has massive growth potential. Companies are launching new tools to enhance customer experiences while at the same time helping businesses enjoy more success.

The impact of this growth has not been reflected on the bottom lines of most digital marketing stocks, but as revenues continue to increase profit margins will improve.

Disclosure: I have no position in any stock mentioned in this article.

Nicholas Kitonyi

Nicholas has solid knowledge of both U.S. and European markets. His investment style is focused on undervalued plays and growth stocks. As a trader, Nicholas classifies himself as a swing trader and likes to trade GBP/USD, gold and FTSE 100, among other liquid instruments.

Visit Nicholas Kitonyi's Website

Excerpt from:
Is the Digital Marketing Industry a Sleeping Giant? - GuruFocus.com