Content Marketing and the Tsunami of Spam

BIA Kelsey Conference Content Marketing Panel John DennyI was honored to be invited last week to speak on content marketing at the BIA/Kelsey Leading in Local conference in Austin, on a panel moderated by the Senior Analyst Jed Williams. During the panel I talked about several foundational themes related to content marketing that seemed to generate some conversation (you can read a full recap of the panel here on the Kelsey Blog), so  I’ve expanded my panel comments for all those who might be interested in what we talked about.

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A Primer on Digital Marketing Services: The Fastest Growing Segment of Local Media

Primer_on_Digital_Marketing_ServicesIn the last 9 months, a series of reports and research have begun shining the spotlight on a segment of the Local Media market that– up until now– has been under the radar for many.  It’s called Digital Marketing Services, and as Borrell Research recently commented in their first report on the topic: “Suddenly digital advertising is yielding the spotlight to digital services…local advertisers are spending two and half times more on these online marketing services then they do on things like (untargeted) banner ads…”

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The Local University Experience

David Mihm Local UIf you’ve never attended a Local University Seminar– you are missing something unique. The world’s top experts in Local search and digital marketing—who usually only speak at major conferences in places like New York, San Francisco and London—come together and travel to towns and cities that typically don’t get to see this level of talent.  And Local University isn’t just about watching-  the intimate setting lets local businesses have a once in a lifetime opportunity to ask questions and have one-on-one conversations with the top minds on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, Twitter and every important digital marketing platform.

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The Fundamental Reason Why Content Marketing Is Exploding Today

Content MarketingUnless you’ve been hiding under a rock over the last year, you’ve been hearing the phrase “content marketing” everywhere.  In fact, a recent a survey of client side marketers worldwide by Econsultancy and Adobe showed one area of digital marketing jumping dramatically in the last year to become the top priority for 2013, and it was–you guessed it– content marketing. And as Digiday recently wrote describing the shift happening in the ad landscape: “Advertisers are no longer content to relegation in the boxes along the periphery of the page. Talk to any major brand, and the word ‘content’ will come up within the first five minutes.”

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Local Digital Marketing Basics: A Quick Primer on Priorities

Basics of digital marketing start with searchAt the BlueglassX conference several weeks ago, I was having a conversation with fellow panelist David Mihm prior to our Local Search Session about a fact related to local businesses digital marketing priorities that amazed both of us.  Far more local businesses have set up a Facebook page then have claimed a Google Place page, by what David has estimated in the past to be a factor of 3 to 1. And as BIA Kelsey recently announced (as reported by Search Engine Land as well as local search expert Mike Blumenthal)- “An astounding 41.7% of SMBs surveyed by BIA/Kelsey say they see Facebook most importantly as a (customer) acquisition tool”.

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The BlueglassX View: Why Local Search Hypergrowth Is Here

BlueglassX Local Mobile Search Panel John DennyI had a great experience this week at BlueGlassX Tampa Moderating the “Local Mobile Domination” session the morning of day two at the conference.  On my panel were two of the current Rock Stars of the local search world- David Mihm (formerly President of Getlisted.org and just now joining SEOMoz) and Dr. Michael Dorausch of Planet Chiropractic (who has been featured in USA Today and Investors Business Daily for his skills in local). To set up the session I shared a bunch of industry data on how and why the “market” for local search– meaning the number of searches as well as the opportunity for local businesses to drive results through organic search rankings– is exploding right now.  Since I pulled a lot of data during my research and had only a limited amount of time to present during the session, I’m adding some super special bonus info here for all of you local search propeller heads.

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AuthorRank: The Real Reason For Google+ and Why You Need To Climb On The Clue Train

The Clue Train for AuthorRank and Google+ is arrivingWhen Google+ first launched, the critics pounced.  “Why launch another Social Network?” they said.  “Google+ is just trying to be Facebook and it will never amount to anything in terms of users”.  And even today, most people don’t understand the implications of the platform Google created.  So here’s the news flash campers- if you are any kind of content creator (news, journalism, etc), are marketing a business, or care about your personal brand as a thought leader in your industry, you need to get on the stick and make Google+ the center of your world- now.  The signs are in place that Google+ will have rapidly increasing influence on your– and your content’s– online visibility, and if you’re by the side of the road when the full impact hits, you’ll wish you had boarded the clue train a long time ago. At the center of the reason why is something called AuthorRank, and I go into detail below on what it is and why you need to start caring.

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A Primer On The State of the Internet 2012

The Future of the Internet: A primer on where digital trends are movingThe analysts at Business Insider Intelligence just recently released an overview of where we are in the evolution of the Internet in 2012. The data they collected was one of the best summaries I’ve seen recently covering the shifts happening in the digital world- a great overview for newbies and veterans alike who want a high-level orienting picture of the industry.  I recommend you view the entire deck, but since it’s fairly long I’ve pulled what I think are the most striking slides and collected them below with some commentary.

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The New Multi-screen World: A Look At The Changes That Are Changing Everything

Smartphone usage is rocketing upwardsSeveral new research reports have emerged in the last month that point to the unprecedented rate of change related to consumer adoption of mobile technology.  Multi screen usage—across smartphones and tablets– is exploding, and the result is, as Forrester Research has declared, we’ve just  reached a tipping point related to the size of the consumer population who access information through many types of devices all day long, and are what they term “always addressable.”

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Today If Your Marketing Campaign Doesn’t Integrate Social, It’s Not A Campaign

In the last decade, there has been a seismic shift in the way consumers use media.  Yet despite this, most marketing plans are still designed as if they were in the Mad Men era- centered around a :30 second TV spot- with radio, magazine and outdoor sprinkled in (as well as a banner buy thrown in to cover the interactive thing).  As Forrester analyst Nate Elliot recently pointed out in a report on the power of social media for marketing (under the not so subtle headline “The Old Marketing Model Must Change”), this is kind of a little ridiculous given how media consumption has radically altered.

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