Here’s our latest roundup of digital marketing tips.
Content marketing: Engineering optimism for an anxious age
Are humans more anxious now? Or is it just news saturation? Upworthy, one of the first masters of clickbait, made it its mission to reframe what we constitute as news. This begs the question: Play to audience fears or the vision of a brighter tomorrow?
Client takeaway: Upworthy has over 11 million subscribers and 20 million unique visitors, plus more community engagement on Facebook than major news networks due to its ability to codify user behavior.
Suggested implementation: Don’t get sucked into the “if it bleeds, it leads” cycle. How about “a positive spin is a win” instead? Use A/B testing to see what headlines, words, and structures keep your audience engaged.
Design: How process can drive creativity
Why do your best ideas happen in the shower? Because everything else you do there is habit. This is the principle behind why process can drive creativity. Get the recap from our Design Week Portland presentation with Creative Director Jeff Wester.
Client takeaway: Forty to 45 percent of everything we do in a day is actually just habit. Processes become habit, freeing up the mind to focus on creativity.
Suggested implementation: Create a template of anything you do more than once. Remain fluid: Know when processes should change or go. And be transparent and listen when colleagues express concern or opinions about processes in place.
Media: US adults now spend 12 hours 7 minutes a day consuming media
As adults, millennials are consuming more media per day than ever before. Some of this can be attributed to multitasking (looking at you, workplace Facebookers). Unsurprisingly, we hold most of that content in our hands, but app usage is consuming more of our time.
Client takeaway: Despite the record times on media, overall growth is slowing down.
Nearly half of all media consumed is digital, with mobile surpassing desktop and other connected devices. In mobile usage, in-app media is consumed nearly nine times more than mobile web media.
Suggested implementation: Stats support a mobile-first approach to all content. The preeminence of apps is growing every year, so do you have an app for that?
SEM: Desktop and mobile ad revenue surpasses TV for the first time
All of that consumption of digital content is of course benefitting digital advertisers most. For the first time, digital spending has passed TV. Most of that growth can be attributed to search and banner ads. And 2016 also included a new revenue: digital audio.
Client takeaway: Digital advertising revenue has seen eight years of record-breaking growth, topping $72.5 billion in 2016. That’s 22 percent higher than 2015. At $71.3 billion, TV ads have been knocked out of the top spot. Retail, financial services, auto, telecom, and travel were the biggest spenders.
Suggested implementation: A mobile-first strategy is a given, but if you haven’t made room for audio ads to appeal to virtual assistants, you’re missing out on a growing trend and a slice of the $1.1 billion pie.
Strategy: 7 things you must know about the psychology of calls to action
Calls to action are psychological plays to get more clicks, buys, or sign-ups. And you’re competing with billions of others. How do you make yours stand out?
Client takeaway: People won’t hand over their personal info unless you give them good reason.
Suggested implementation: Repetition, scarcity, personal benefit, and good timing all increase clicks. Keep it simple and colorful while conveying minimized risk to the reader.
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