Deus Ex Machina - Machine Learning is your friend

Why? Well, in a nutshell, machine learning is the use of computers to refine patterns at a level beyond human ability. It’s kind of like if our brains were supercharged and able to store thousands of years of data, keep it all in memory, isolate the most important information, and then use all that information to predict results in real-time.

Let’s look at an example inspired by an earlier piece written by Quora:

Say you’re looking to buy the sweetest oranges. You ask your mother, who always has the ones you like, and she tells you that the biggest oranges from the local market are the sweetest.

So, following mom’s directions, you go to the local market and you buy ten of the biggest oranges you can find. Sadly, only about half of your oranges are sweet. Further investigation reveals that the oranges that happen to be the sweetest, also have bright spots.

You come to the conclusion that the sweetest oranges are the ones with the bright spots… and that your mother is a liar.

Armed with this knowledge, the next time you go to the store you only get oranges with bright spots. Once again, only half of your oranges are sweet, but this time, the differentiating quality is that the biggest are the sweetest.

You realize that the oranges that are both big and have bright spots are sweetest.

Now you can go to store and always pick the sweetest oranges…after a quick apology to your mother. 

Next time you go to the local market, however, your roommate asks your to pick up the juiciest oranges. But you don’t have any information on how to buy the juiciest oranges, so it’s back to the drawing board. It would take multiple trips back and forth from the market, trying different combinations of oranges, and maybe even stores, before you would ever find the right mix of attributes that equaled a “juicy orange”.

That means a lot of wasted time and money… unless, of course, you have a machine with a good algorithm to predict results based on a sampling of millions of different oranges across thousands of different stores. Then it would be able to use this information to find the desirable oranges (whether sweet, juicy, or sour) by generalizing and isolating all the combinations of attributes (in the case of oranges, might be big, small, smooth, lumpy, spotty, soft, hard, pale, etc.) that are of statistical importance among the infinite sets of possible variations. By paying attention to only the attributes that are known and show statistical significance towards a specific outcome, the algorithm would be able to pinpoint what matters and calculate results in a highly efficiently manner, providing results before even leaving for the store.. and without having to eat a ton of ”bad” oranges!

But this isn’t just about oranges. Let’s look at how this process may effect an advertiser:

The graph below shows the daily spend of a fashion brand that ran on our network. Follow the paths of daily spend.  Over the first few days of the campaign we’re spending more with MSIE, and less with Safari. The CPA on MSIE was high and burning most of the budget too quickly, so the system stopped buying it as much. In this case, the machine was able to anticipate the outcome by recognizing trends in the data.  Eventually, we were essentially spending nothing against MSIE.  

The best part? The client asked us to stop spending against MSIE on August 22, but looking at the graphs you can see that we were automatically decreasing spending against it.  

The machines were a step ahead, and this gave the client great confidence that our system – machine learning, works.  

A Reaction to Quentin George’s presentation at IAB Ad Ops Summit

At the IAB Ad Ops summit, Quentin George, cofounder of Unbound, gave an insightful reality check into the obstacles and challenges that lay ahead for the digital advertising industry in his talk “Perception vs. Reality: What Value Does Automated Advertising Have to Brand Marketers?”

In an ever-evolving industry, Mr. George laid out changes/solutions that are necessary in order to improve certain negative perceptions that currently surround digital advertising.You can watch the video here.

It was nice to see that several of his “solutions” coincided with a lot of LiveIntent’s current offerings and benefits:

Solution – “Reduction of Waste”: the industry needs to do better creating transparency between brands and publishers making sure there the market is efficient.

Reality: Before our technology, email was an inefficient market. Ads had to be bought and sold on send without a guarantee of anyone ever opening, let alone seeing the ad. We allow advertisers and publishers to serve ads dynamically, on-open, guaranteeing users are seeing the right ad at the right time.  

Solution – “Differentiate” and “Contextualize: Personalize your message to each user, do not have just one standard creative that fits for most of your audience while also making sure the contexts of your message fits endemically with where it is being served.

Reality: What he is essentially referring to, is A/B testing – an archaic form of optimizing creative campaigns. Through LiveIntent’s algorithmic optimization tool, L.I.P.S., we use a multitude of data points such as age, newsletter, gender, location, etc to serve ads to the users who are mostly likely to be interested and engage, optimizing to each individual impression; fostering a conversation that will delight every user, not just the majority.

Solution – “Sequence”: Make a user experience that evolves over time, tell a rich narrative do not keep showing users who have already purchased your product the same standard banner ad over and over again.

Reality: Through the use of hashed email addresses, LiveIntent enables advertisers to have a much deeper conversation with their users.Lets say an advertiser has 3 potential users: 

User 1 has no relationship with the brand.

User 2 has signed up for the brands newsletter, but not purchased their product.

User 3 has purchased the brands product.

Through the use of hashed email addresses, we can deliver three different messages to all three users that will evolve as they continue to engage with the product.  We can show User 1 the standard banner ad to get them interested and interacting with the product. Since we know User 2 has already signed up for the newsletter, we can show them a special promotion for the product. With User 3 we can suppress against, only showing new products they might be interested in without inundating them with products they have already bought.

With more consumers buying smartphones, now is the time to optimize

If brands aren’t already fine-tuning their messages for mobile devices, now is the time to begin doing so. A new report from Juniper Research suggests that more than 250 million smartphones were shipped in the third quarter of 2013, which marks a 50 percent year-over-year growth rate as well as a new quarterly record.

A variety of factors have driven this growth, from the greater availability of low-end smartphone models for people who don’t want to pay for high-end devices to the gradually improving economy that is allowing customers to spend more of their money on luxury commodities. However, all of that is irrelevant to marketers and advertisers – the important takeaway for them is that more people are using smartphones on a daily basis, so brands need ensure their messages are being tailored to these devices.

The importance of mobile optimization

Businesses are beginning to realize the importance of mobile as a channel, but few are actually devoting the proper amount of resources needed to utilize smartphones and tablets effectively. This results in content that can be displayed on mobile devices, but may not look right or take advantage of the many features unique to the channel. As many advertisers will admit, this kind of approach can often hinder the results of campaigns.

For example, say a company used email advertising to engage relevant customers. If customers opened these messages from their phones, the ad unit might not be displayed accurately on the screen – it could be entirely too small or bleed off the edge of the screen, rendering it unreadable. In essence, this brand has just purchased a wasted impression, as the customer in question isn’t likely to purchase a product or service after seeing this advertisement.

This is why optimization is so important. If that company had optimized their email advertising efforts for specific smartphones and tablets, they could have reached a high-value prospect with an incredibly relevant display. They could have even gone one step further by adding functions such as “push to call,” thereby enhancing the interactivity of their efforts by catering to the special features of smartphones.

More people may be buying smartphones, but that doesn’t mean advertisers should just throw this channel into the mix – advertisements need to be optimized to these devices to maximize success.

Optimizing ad campaigns for mobile devices to engage affluent prospects

It’s no secret that affluent consumers are the drivers of economic spending. While people with less disposable income buckle down and reserve their income for necessary budgetary expenses, affluent individuals have more freedom to spend their money as they like. As such, they make for prime targets when it comes to planning marketing and advertising campaigns.

If businesses are targeting affluent households, they may want to consider optimizing their email advertising campaigns for mobile devices. A new report from comScore and JumpTap suggests that 40 percent of tablet owners earn more than $100,000 annually. Although it comes as no surprise that people from affluent households would be able to afford the latest tech gizmos and gadgets, the percentage of tablet owners belonging to this demographic is much higher than even smartphone and computer owners.

“Smartphone and PC owners have a similar income distribution, although PC owners skew slightly more to the low-income side. That is, 41 percent of PC owners are in the [less than] $60,000 income group, compared to 33 percent of smartphone owners,” MarketingCharts added, citing the report.

When including users with an income of between $75,000 and $100,000, the number of tablet users jumps even higher, to 57 percent. The message should be clear to brands: if you’re seeking affluent customers with money to spend, your campaigns should be utilizing mobile components – particularly tablet devices.

Optimizing email initiatives for tablets

None of this information should come as a surprise to advertisers, yet many still don’t take the steps required to optimize their campaigns for mobile devices. This is particularly the case when it comes to email, with an Econsultancy survey reporting that 32 percent of respondents have “nonexistent” mobile optimization initiativesand 39 percent saying their strategy was only “basic.” While this is an improvement over 2012 (when 76 percent had “nonexistent” or “basic” mobile optimization strategies), the survey suggests advertisers are still underestimating the reach of mobile.

Mobile devices have much different screen sizes and resolutions than standard desktop computers, and breaking that down even further, there is a significant difference between tablets and smartphones as well. Not optimizing emails and advertisements to smaller screens could impact the message brands are trying to send and make it difficult to see what products are being promoted.

Email integrates, automates, optimizes to stay ahead

Email marketers are looking for new ways to integrate, automate and optimize their consumer communications to work with other technologies and boost customer engagement. A recent report from Econsultancy explored how the advertising medium is adjusting to the changing digital landscape and opening itself up to new tools and strategies.

Multi-channel partnerships make email key channel             

The research noted that email has remained resilient as a marketing medium thanks to its efficiency and measurability – two factors that channels such as social media are still attempting to figure out and define for themselves. However, the study explained, this doesn’t mean continual evaluations and changes in the channel aren’t necessary. 

For example, the recent alterations to Google’s Gmail inbox structure has prompted organizations and advertising teams to identify new modes of optimization to ensure their marketing messages don’t languish under the “Promotions” tab.

Integral to introducing new ideas and communication strategies is testing. However, the report found that the only 31 percent of marketing professionals conduct regular testing, even though 74 percent of those respondents expressed experiencing “excellent” or “good” returns on investment for their email endeavors. Without testing, organizations run the risk of continuing to send out an email that just isn’t a hit with consumers – it either remains unopened, unclicked or is just generally disliked.

Make sure emails are mobile             

Consumers’ love of their mobile devices – be they smartphones or table computers – has made it imperative for organizations to optimize emails communications for mobile devices. 

“From location-based advantages, to maximizing the ‘always-on’ culture that has developed, mobile continues to change how businesses use email,” the report wrote. “While the benefits that can be manifested could be lucrative, mobile also comes with its challenges.”

These issues can include optimizing content for smaller screens and structuring links and buttons for the swipe of a finger, not the click of a mouse. 

The importance, though, of mobile to email was underscored by a recent study from YesMail. In the research, not only did 29 percent of mobile users say their gadgets are the first and last thing they look at each day, but nearly half of respondents claimed it was their primary device for checking their email. In fact, 61 percent said they view email either exclusively on a mobile device or paired with a desktop computer, making going mobile a necessity. 

Wondering how to improve mobile campaigns? Optimize!

It doesn’t take much more than a quick stroll down the street to see how pervasive mobile devices have become in today’s tech-driven society. It’s not uncommon to see people texting, listening to music, trying to find directions, reading emails, taking photos or doing numerous other activities with their smartphones on a regular basis.

It should come as no surprise that many advertisers have observed this and have taken to mobile devices to promote their products and services. However, due to the ever-changing specifications of smartphones and the relative youth of the channel, many companies have yet to perfect their campaigns. Although there are a number of steps organizations can take to maximize the efficiency of their campaigns, one of the most important is optimization.

When in doubt, fine-tune and optimize mobile content

A recent report from MarketingSherpa illustrated all the different strategies businesses can utilize to improve mobile engagement. Optimization was a common thread across a number of the responses. For example, 96 percent of respondents agreed that mobile content design should be used to hasten loading times. Everyone polled said ads should be tailored to the operating system and device that people are using.

“Your content and promotions can render differently across all of these devices and operating systems, so it’s important to test your offers on many different devices (or at least use a computer-based tool that emulates these devices),” MarketingSherpa explained.

“If that wasn’t difficult enough, if your marketing involves apps, those apps will be OS and device specific (think smartphone versus tablet),” the news source added.

The content of the message was also viewed as being highly important. Mobile ads must be dynamically personalized in real-time according to 93 percent of respondents. Another 93 percent also said the message should be contextualized for the mobile experience.

According to a recent report from comScore, smartphone penetration has finally exceeded the 60 percent mark in the United States. It’s a no-brainer to engage this audience of prospective customers via these devices given how quickly they’ve spread. However, it is crucial that firms optimize this content for the smaller screens of smartphones and tablets, regardless of whether organizations are using social, video or email advertising via mobile channels.

Email advertising is the perfect medium to reach holiday shoppers

The end of the year is busy season for many industries, but retailers specifically rely on the holidays to drive business. The last two months of the year can account for up to 40 percent of total annual retail sales, so merchants must be on top of their game if they want to meet their projected forecasts.

Advertising is one strategy merchants can use to generate exposure among holiday shoppers and encourage viewers to buy at their store instead of a competitor’s. Display ads can assist merchants with highlighting relevant products at competitive prices, promoting their services and simply getting their brand out there in front of consumers.

On top of that, Web-based advertising has never been more influential. Consumers are using their mobile devices and desktop computers now more than ever before as shopping companions, so inserting brand messages into the process early enables retailers to remain top-of-mind among consumers. A recent report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) suggested that digital sales will grow between 13 and 15 percent to as much as $82 billion this holiday season, illustrating how many transactions will occur via online storefronts.

Of course, consumers aren’t just using mobile and online channels to buy retail products. A significant amount of time is also spent researching and planning purchases, which may be the ideal opportunity for advertisers to reach their target audience.

For example, 27 percent of customers found a shopping website or first heard about a specific product from email messages, according to a recent YesMail survey. A separate report from PricewaterhouseCoopers also found that as many as 83 percent of consumers refer to online channels to research retail products before they buy them.

Utilizing email advertising to engage retail customers

Email is one of the most common means consumers use to communicate, as millions of Americans have email accounts and access them via their phones and Web-based browsers every day. Utilizing email advertising to engage these individuals essentially takes advantage of this channel to convey a relevant brand message.

Several retailers are already investing heavily in advertising, with many making use of real-time bidding (RTB) platforms as well to improve the relevance of their campaigns. One recent report from Casale Media even found that retailers were the biggest RTB spenders for the first half of 2013, illustrating the value they see in advertising and RTB.

3 brands making great use of programmatic buying

It’s been drilled into the heads of many advertisers after years of repetition: They need to use the right message at the right place at the right time to reach the right customer to win the sale. As such, many companies put relevance high on their list of priorities for marketing campaigns. However, staying relevant can quite quickly transition from something organizations know they need to do into a tedious task because of how difficult it can be. 

Programmatic buying is placing the power back into the hands of brands. By using marketing metrics and demographics, they can automatically bid on impressions of only the relevant prospects. This means greater efficiency for their campaigns, as they are wasting less money on people who may not be interested in their products or services and investing it back into those who are highly pertinent to their company.

Though this powerful weapon is available to brands, many agencies aren’t taking full advantage of programmatic buying.

“Even with all the tools, agencies, exchanges, and publishers at the forefront of programmatic, many brands have yet to adopt it,” iMedia Connection explained. “Failure to embrace and trust the new technology, the lack of understanding of view-through incrementality, challenges with the talent to lead these efforts, getting management on board of something that has more acronyms that make their heads spin – these are all reasons a lot of brands are behind.”

So who should brands look to as examples of successful programmatic buyers? According to iMedia Connection, Shutterfly, Benefit and One Kings Lane are all brands that use programmatic buying to enhance their success.

1. Shutterfly

​Shutterfly offers image publishing services to consumers. The brand is utilizing all sorts of information to reach mothers at every stage of life, leveraging both online and offline data to help streamline their advertising efforts. The company can make use of this data to offer specific services based on recent the actions of their customers, ensuring the relevance of campaigns. 

2. Benefit Cosmetics

For any given campaign, Benefit has more than 20 different ad variations it can serve to customers that feature a wide spectrum of the company’s products. Whether people are looking for lip gloss, powder or anything in between, Benefit uses programmatic buying to reach customers in a meaningful, specific way.

3. One Kings Lane

Online marketplace One Kings Lane goes beyond simple retargeting – they use specific metrics, such as product views, to serve relevant ads to customers. They operate within the world of flash sales, so every second counts. Programmatic buying allows them to make the most of their time.

Going beyond the click: Why optimization is important to advertisers

The success of advertising campaigns is based on a number of different metrics, such as registered impressions and clicks. Although advertisers have steered clear of clicks for a while now as a primary benchmark, there is no doubt that many are still in pursuit of those simple touches of the mouse. In fact, many advertising campaigns are still sold at "cost-per-click" rates.

Evaluating value besides clicks

A new report from ChoiceStream illustrates why assessing the success of campaigns in terms of click-through rates may not be the best way of approaching the matter. Less than half of respondents said they respond to online ads by actually clicking on the unit, however, that doesn't mean the advertisement didn't have an effect on viewers.

After seeing an ad, 52 percent said they would try searching for the product or company on Google or another search engine. Meanwhile, 48 percent indicated they would type the URL from the banner ad directly into their browser and visit the site. Moreover, these searches could take place hours after originally viewing the ad unit, which can make it all the more frustrating for advertisers to track.

"When respondents were asked how long they would generally wait until they researched a company or product whose ad they found interesting but did not click, a majority indicated they would wait longer than one hour, with a significant number doing so 'days later,'" Marketing Charts added, citing the report.

The key takeaway here is that while most display ads and banner units may have notoriously low click-through rates, that doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't doing their jobs. In fact, display ads can generate a huge amount of exposure and secure a vast number of sales. This is why advertisers need to do a better job of viewing display units not as calls to action but as a means to display and promote their brands, products and services.

As advertisers begin to use display units for exposure purposes, it's crucial these units are scaled accurately for whatever devices the viewer is using. For example, the ChoiceStream survey suggests many consumers will enter the Web address into their browser after seeing an ad. However, if they are viewing the display unit on a mobile device, they might not be able to read the Web URL if the ad isn't tailored to the smaller screen size.

Mobile is a whole new channel that advertisers have to deal with, which creates all sorts of complications for advertisers.

Three Email Marketing Myths

In every industry, myths grow greater as time goes by, starting as a mere kernel of truth and sprouting into a mighty oaks of exaggeration. Email advertising and marketing is no different.

Highly focused on fine-tuning and optimizing their campaigns, email marketers seem to always be looking for small ways they can tweak specific elements of initiatives and appease the “Email Gods”, leading to quirky mindsets and responses being misconstrued into industry best practices. But it’s crucial to remember that what works for one business, may not work for another, and not to confuse myth with fact.

Here are three myths about email advertising fit for Homer’s chronicles:

1. Consumers are Drowning in Hundreds of Email Messages Daily

In general, advertisers are using a broader range of communication channels to engage their customers on a daily basis. Social media, mobile messaging, television, email – these are all commonly used platforms in advertising campaigns.

But despite this ubiquitous approach across all channels, there is an idea permeating the industry that email marketing is the worst culprit, drowning consumers in a storm of emails, leaving them lost, confused and cursing the heavens.

However, most consumers still only receive a few emails per day. One report from Marketing Pilgrim found that 60 percent of customers received less than six promotional emails daily, of which 40 percent received fewer than three. This means that email advertising remains a high-value avenue brands can use to engage customers.

2. Consumers Ignore Branded Emails

Is there any greater fear marketers house than that of being branded as “SPAM” and ignored by customers. This has many companies carefully monitoring how they choose to engage consumers – they devote a lot of time and effort into ensuring they don’t send too many emails and trying to find a “magic number” with their frequency.

But the idea that consumers are stuffing their ears with wax to ignore the Sirens’ call is false. The fact of the matter is that consumers appreciate consistency, and the chances of a customer actually opening a message doubles when brands send four messages a month instead of one. People trust familiar brands, so companies shouldn’t be afraid of being ignored unless they go too far overboard.

3. Email Provides Less Value in a Mobile/Social World

Perhaps the most erroneous of the myths floating around the industry is that in an increasingly mobile world, email is about as useful as a Cyclops with a sword in it’s eye.

On the contrary, email is actually more valuable in today’s ever-connected digital world. In fact, according toExperian Marketing Services’ (EMS) Quarterly Email Benchmark Study Q2 2013, 50% of unique email opens are mobile, a number which is only expected to grow.

Email is also often the primary re-engagement tool for major social sites, as well as a way to drive people to other digital destinations. It can even be social fodder in and of itself, if publishers add sharing widgets. According to iContact, 64 percent of businesses use email with other types of advertising to maximize their reach.

Want to continue your Odyssey into the legends of email? Click here to learn more about why email is no longer about sending email.

Chart of the Month: The Daily Digital Activity Earth

If the various continents of the Earth were divided by percentage into the top of the earth… then what would be like?

Going beyond the click: Why optimization is important to advertisers

The success of advertising campaigns is based on a number of different metrics, such as registered impressions and clicks. Although advertisers have steered clear of clicks for a while now as a primary benchmark, there is no doubt that many are still in pursuit of those simple touches of the mouse. In fact, many advertising campaigns are still sold at “cost-per-click” rates. 

Evaluating value besides clicks
A new report from ChoiceStream illustrates why assessing the success of campaigns in terms of click-through rates may not be the best way of approaching the matter. Less than half of respondents said they respond to online ads by actually clicking on the unit, however, that doesn’t mean the advertisement didn’t have an effect on viewers.

After seeing an ad, 52 percent said they would try searching for the product or company on Google or another search engine. Meanwhile, 48 percent indicated they would type the URL from the banner ad directly into their browser and visit the site. Moreover, these searches could take place hours after originally viewing the ad unit, which can make it all the more frustrating for advertisers to track.

“When respondents were asked how long they would generally wait until they researched a company or product whose ad they found interesting but did not click, a majority indicated they would wait longer than one hour, with a significant number doing so ‘days later,’” Marketing Charts added, citing the report.

The key takeaway here is that while most display ads and banner units may have notoriously low click-through rates, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t doing their jobs. In fact, display ads can generate a huge amount of exposure and secure a vast number of sales. This is why advertisers need to do a better job of viewing display units not as calls to action but as a means to display and promote their brands, products and services.

As advertisers begin to use display units for exposure purposes, it’s crucial these units are scaled accurately for whatever devices the viewer is using. For example, the ChoiceStream survey suggests many consumers will enter the Web address into their browser after seeing an ad. However, if they are viewing the display unit on a mobile device, they might not be able to read the Web URL if the ad isn’t tailored to the smaller screen size.

Mobile is a whole new channel that advertisers have to deal with, which creates all sorts of complications for advertisers.

Stupid Question People Ask Me and The Sarcastic answers I want to give them!!!

When They ask me Stupid Questions I give them sarcastic answers so as everyone can be satisfied, I mean those who asked me and me myself who answer them. 

ARE YOU THE ONE WHO ASKS ME? THOSE ARE THE KIND OF ANSWERS YOU GET...! 

SATISFIED TOO????!!!!***###?!@@#$%

How you know if you are in the "Friend Zone", "End Zone" or "Danger Zone"?

How would you know if you are in the "Friend Zone", "End Zone" or "Danger Zone"? Click here and enlarge the image which display this question by a diagrammatic kind of a story, at last you will find three answers. 
But you may have your own answer depending on how you feel or see it. 
Share the answer by Commenting. 

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