Possibly the biggest recent buzzword in the online marketing world has been programmatic advertising. Programmatic is to advertising what derivatives are to investing - holding the promise of leveraged gains over and above regular returns, but needing to be driven by rocket scientists. The problem isn't that marketers now have programmatic advertising, the problem is marketing doesn't attract rocket scientists. For this reason, programmatic is problematic.
Blog
Less than 30 days ago I wrote about my top 3 new PPC advertising opportunities for 2014. Now I’m going to have to add another: * Photo Credit: Andrew Feinberg; via Compfight Native Facebook Website Remarketing
Begin with the end in mind – Stephen Covey There has never been an easier way to launch a global platform. Our problem today isn’t ‘how to’ but ‘which one’? Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? website? etc … Given that in an online world, your email subscriber base is your number one ass
Newspapers used to be bought from piles at news stands. Because the broadsheet format was so large, they were folded in half with their main banner and headline facing the top of the pile for easy viewing and a quick purchase by the consumer presumably in a rush to catch the peak hour train to...
The Afterpay Effect Working across a number of industries, we uncover insights that shift strategy across all our advertising accounts. Some small, some Seismic. The impact of Afterpay, Zippay etc.. has created a dramatic change in online purchase behaviour. Due to the structure of our Search ad accounts, we can spot early keyword trends and...
I love coffee. I love drinking coffee. I love talking about coffee. A coffeeholic friend was telling me about a new cafe he's been going to that have set a new standard in his mind - by rejecting him. The (very experienced) Barista tried six times to pull a proper espresso with some new beans and just couldn't get the shot right to his satisfaction. He ended up telling my friend "I'm sorry, I just can't serve this", then ...
12 May 2015
The other day my mum, the queen of random, asked me “Do I need a Fitbit? Everyone’s got one…” I began looking around and noticing that she was right, the tipping point of wearable tech has happened. Thousands upon thousands of people collecting data, daily, on how many steps (or swings of their arm) they are taking. We live in an age where there is a dizzying amount of data available to us - certainly as digital marketers, but now even as individuals. We collect data because we can, and even because it’s cool. The question now is - what do we do with this data?
Often when a new client engages us for Adwords search advertising, they usually engage an SEO agency at the same time. Simultaneously working on both paid and unpaid Search makes complete sense from a project management point of view, but from an SEO point of view, which keywords do you optimise your site for? This apparently simple question was made even more difficult since Google removed organic keyword results from Analytics ...
12 May 2018
In this 10 part series, we are exploring simple steps you can take to get your digital house in order – before you start paying for advertising. Last week in Step 9, we covered ‘Setting realistic Advertising expectations’. Now lets move on to Step 10. Those closest to the leader will determine the level...
5 May 2018
In this 10 part series, we are exploring simple steps you can take to get your digital house in order – before you start paying for advertising. Last week in Step 8, we covered ‘How much should I spend on Advertising?’. Now lets move on to Step 9. After you have done your research...
28 April 2018
In this 10 part series, we are exploring simple steps you can take to get your digital house in order – before you start paying for advertising. Last week in Step 7, we covered ‘Establishing your Baseline’. Now lets move on to Step 8. It is far better to do one medium well than...
21 April 2018
In this 10 part series, we are exploring simple steps you can take to get your digital house in order – before you start paying for advertising. Last week in Step 6, we covered ‘Setting up Website Audiences’. Now lets move on to Step 7. We all start at the same place: zero readers...
Blockchain
28 December 2017
* This article originally appeared on smk.co – as one of our resident guest blog posts. In September, I was fortunate to have been invited to the Google APAC Display Network Summit held in Google’s new Singapore head office. The Summit was the first time Google has ever held a Summit focussing entirely on the...
Today, we continue our Year in Review mini-series by looking at our most popular Branding & Identity posts for 2015 ...
In a global economy, many markets and niches are approaching parity - what's on offer by one brand is not a whole lot different to what's on offer by others. Now that we're connected to brands we follow in relationship over time, personality matters. For better or for worse, we like people who ...
The test of a great song is when you can strip it right back to raw - no effects, no gloss - and it still gets you. In the same way, if you were to strip back your brand's effects and gloss - what are you left with? *This* is the real reason people come to you, followed you ...
This is the first time in history that anyone can send a communication and have it received instantly almost anywhere on the planet and almost for free. This is not normal...
With 2016 fast nearing its end, we took some time out to compile a list of a few of our favourite things here at Intentional this year. Coffee: Padre – Daddy’s Girl. For those of you who like their coffee strong, Daddy’s Girl blend makes a killer latte. Plus in recent months has been a favourite...
Well before the new Star Wars release, one character stole the show and our hearts - and it wasn't a Skywalker, but a rolling droid. When this droid rolled on stage back in July, the world's collective jaw dropped to realise, this wasn't a special effect, this is real. Its almost nonsensical that a metal ball can be so expressive, so human. Even more fascinating is the story behind BB8...
If you're reading this, chances are you're a knowledge worker. As knowledge workers, the value we bring to our world is no longer in our physical labour. Our currency is in ideas. And rare, desirable currency is in the form of valuable ideas.
In this age of Content Marketing, we're often asked by clients: "Should we outsource content creation?" More often than not, the reason this question comes up is because a Search Engine Optimiser has put the fear of God into our client who is now scrambling to 'catch up' with competitors who have all been using content for SEO purposes. Firstly, creating content for the sole purpose of SEO on the surface appears right, but is in reality ...
The Thanksgiving week in an online marketers life has become the most manic 7 days we have. Even with being on the opposite side of the world to where the holiday originated from, Australian’s have well and truly adopted the rituals of Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales. In fact the reality is now that...
We wrap up our Year in Review mini-series today by looking at our most popular Connection Economy posts for 2015 ...
The opportunity and challenge for marketers today is that marketing is now relational. Not only do we need to do our jobs as marketers, but we also have to have both emotional intelligence and capacity in order to stay in relationship with followers and lead them on a journey of becoming. That's a tall order and something marketers who came before us never had to do. Yet the principles that govern all relationships still apply ...
Last week, designer Yana Makarevich, caused a stir by with her remarkable take on the World Wildlife Fund logo - transforming the familiar Panda into three other endagered species, using the exact same shapes. The WWF logo (including Yana's new interpretations) are an example of The Gestalt Effect - the ability for our brains to ...
Creativity
As much as Adwords is an incredible advertising delivery mechanism, it can only ever be as good as your advertising itself. In this video Youtube and TED asks the creators of some of the most popular viral videos of last year the question: "What makes ads worth spreading?"
What would happen if you took the most iconic Advertising Creative Directors of the 60's and 70's and asked them to translate, re-interpret and adapt their best work for the internet today?
2 April 2018
Definition Topic targeting leans on Google’s enormous indexing database to web pages and apps that are associated with a particular subject matter. Different to Affinity targeting, Topic Targeting “follows the content” – here you don’t know anything about the user, only what web page or app content you want ads to show on. As we...
2 April 2018
Definition Because of the mountains of data now available, perhaps the biggest digital advertising buzzwords of recent times has been the triumvirate of Programmatic, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Each are actually their own specific beasts, however generally speaking most marketers use these words interchangeably to refer to the automated buying of media placements –...
2 April 2018
Definition When Intentional first started in 2010, the digital climate was very different. Back then, all of us only had one device (the desktop or laptop computer), and there was only one digital channel to advertise on: Adwords Search (even Display Network was in its infancy). Married at Last Click In such a climate,...
2 April 2018
Definition When Intentional first started in 2010, there was only really one digital advertising channel of worth (at least in Australia) – Adwords Search. As such, data analysis was quite simple as all we needed to do was use Adwords’ native reporting. Apples and Oranges Today, however, we have not just Adwords but multiple...
2 April 2018
Definition Content Exclusions, formerly Site Category Exclusions, is less about placement targeting and more about Brand Safety. Here Advertisers can identify types of content (eg. tragedy, crime, sexually suggestive etc) that they do not want their Brand associated with – and opt out of them all at the Campaign level. Intentional Tip
2 April 2018
Definition Customer Match refers to the ability inside the Adwords platform to upload a list of user details (eg. Email Addresses, Phone Numbers) and have Google ‘match’ them to real users (actually, their browser cookies). It must be noted that 1) all matching data is hashed, and 2) there is a minimum matched list size...
2 April 2018
Definition Similar Audiences refers to the audiences automatically generated inside the Adwords platform from Audiences you have previously defined that contain 5,000+ cookies. These are a fantastic way to expand the reach of your message to new people who share similar characteristics to those who you already know. Similar Audience targeting leans on Google’s enormous...
2 April 2018
Definition Remarketing refers to the ability to target users who have already interacted with your brand – whether that is having clicked an ad, been to your website, subscribed to your email list or even if they have called you. Once you have aggregated these users into appropriate audiences, we can then Remarket to them...
Less than 30 days ago I wrote about my top 3 new PPC advertising opportunities for 2014. Now I’m going to have to add another: * Photo Credit: Andrew Feinberg; via Compfight Native Facebook Website Remarketing
2 April 2018
Definition Content Exclusions, formerly Site Category Exclusions, is less about placement targeting and more about Brand Safety. Here Advertisers can identify types of content (eg. tragedy, crime, sexually suggestive etc) that they do not want their Brand associated with – and opt out of them all at the Campaign level. Intentional Tip
2 April 2018
Definition Customer Match refers to the ability inside the Adwords platform to upload a list of user details (eg. Email Addresses, Phone Numbers) and have Google ‘match’ them to real users (actually, their browser cookies). It must be noted that 1) all matching data is hashed, and 2) there is a minimum matched list size...
2 April 2018
Definition Similar Audiences refers to the audiences automatically generated inside the Adwords platform from Audiences you have previously defined that contain 5,000+ cookies. These are a fantastic way to expand the reach of your message to new people who share similar characteristics to those who you already know. Similar Audience targeting leans on Google’s enormous...
2 April 2018
Definition Remarketing refers to the ability to target users who have already interacted with your brand – whether that is having clicked an ad, been to your website, subscribed to your email list or even if they have called you. Once you have aggregated these users into appropriate audiences, we can then Remarket to them...
Last week, the Media Federation of Australia released a Transparency Framework presumably as a response to the alarming cases of misreporting & charging abuses by ad agencies to clients. The transition to digital is a quantum leap from what has come before, opening up a world of techno-jargon and the ability for agency sharks to
"We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak" - EpictetusSelling is telling. Marketing is listening.
When I was growing up I was fascinated with the Myer department store that anchored our nearby shopping centre. As a kid the only place I naturally was interested in was the Toy Department - why was the toy department always on the top floor? Can't these adults plainly see that all toys should be at the main entrance? But no, we kids always had to make it past the overwhelmingly smelly main entrance dominated by perfume counters and ...
Everyone loves those little extra bonuses in life. Free upgrades, surprise gifts or unexpected perks put a smile on our face. When it comes to digital advertising we like to structure our accounts to ensure we can deliver those extra bonuses 🙂 Search Network: At the base of the funnel, ads on the search network are in...
“This above all: To thine own self be true” – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3
“Creativity is intelligence having fun” – Albert Einstein
“A business is simply an idea to make other people’s lives better” – Richard Branson
“The 20th Century was about dozens of markets of millions of consumers. The 21st Century is about millions of markets of dozens of consumers.” – Joe Kraus
The Afterpay Effect Working across a number of industries, we uncover insights that shift strategy across all our advertising accounts. Some small, some Seismic. The impact of Afterpay, Zippay etc.. has created a dramatic change in online purchase behaviour. Due to the structure of our Search ad accounts, we can spot early keyword trends and...
2 April 2018
Definition Impression Share refers to the percentage of Ad Impressions your Brand received for targeting your are purchasing. For example, a 78% Search Impression Share means your ads are showing 78% of the time your target audience is searching. This is telling you that there are 22% more opportunities available for you to reach your...
2 April 2018
Definition The classic Marketing Funnel refers to where a consumer may be in their journey to being a customer of yours. It is still alive and well today, granted far more complex in terms of measuring given the Cross-Channel, Cross-Device Digital world we live in today. To keep things simple, we reduce the marketing funnel down...
2 April 2018
Definition Negativing, Positiving and Sculpting are regular maintenance activities taken on accounts in order to maximise performance. Negativing Negativing refers to blocking either irrelevant search queries on Search, or poor Placements in Display. Positiving Positiving refers to promoting new keywords discovered b