Google's mobile-friendly label has now been removed from the search results

Google officially says goodbye to their mobile-friendly label this morning. The mobile-friendly label no longer shows up in the search results.

The post Google's mobile-friendly label has now been removed from the search results appeared first on Search Engine Land.



Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

What's Holding CMOs Back From Using a Mobile Data Management Platform

As users spend more time engaging with media on mobile devices, brands are-not surprisingly-increasing ad spend on mobile platforms. Two years ago, almost 20 percent of worldwide digital ad spend was projected to be allocated towards mobile, and this figure is expected to rise to 70% globally, and 72% in the US by 2019 according to eMarketer. 

And while many CMOs have realized and now utilize a Mobile Data Management Platform (DMP), there are still far too many who have not. 

What's Holding CMOs Back?

Marketers are faced with the challenge of using data in all of their marketing executions, having accountability, and maximizing ROI. This applies to mobile where data is more easily tracked for digital efforts than offline marketing. However, just having data is not enough. You have to be able to analyze and act upon what you discover from your mobile data.

While today's marketers and advertisers realize that mobile marketing should be a key component of their overall marketing mix and cross-channel strategy, they face significant hurdles to do it right. One issue is around identity. As consumers use a mobile device, they create different identifiers depending on whether they log into an app or browse more anonymously on the mobile web. The data they create-whether it's behaviors, preferences, or attributes-can end up in silos across channels. In fact, 85% of digital marketers say the biggest challenge to cross-channel marketing is customer data that's spread across multiple channels. 

Collecting and deriving insights from the massive amounts of consumer data generated each day on various forms of mobile devices is challenging. Marketers need a sophisticated mobile DMP platform to analyze geolocation, purchase, and intent data from millions of mobile consumers, and combine findings with data from online and offline actions to dramatically improve the impact of cross-channel campaigns. 

Take Control

Mobile data management platforms allow brands to take control of their ever-growing mobile advertising programs. Mobile advertising offers a huge opportunity to capture consumers' immediate location-based, in-the-moment interests. Customized mobile advertising, when done effectively, delivers extremely high brand engagement and conversion rates.

With a mobileDMP, brands can harness and analyze the massive amount of customer data generated by mobile devices-including intent, geolocation, and purchase behavior-to better target ads across multiple mobile devices and platforms, from in-app ads on smartphones to mobile web ads and tablet-specific campaigns. 

Download the Mobile Data Management Platform Guide and see how a Mobile DMP can address the mobile challenges marketers face and offer a holistic, cross-device view of your consumers for consistent messaging, easy up-selling, and robust analytics to do more of what works. 

What's Holding CMOs Back From Using a Mobile Data Management Platform

As users spend more time engaging with media on mobile devices, brands are-not surprisingly-increasing ad spend on mobile platforms. Two years ago, almost 20 percent of worldwide digital ad spend was projected to be allocated towards mobile, and this figure is expected to rise to 70% globally, and 72% in the US by 2019 according to eMarketer. 

And while many CMOs have realized and now utilize a Mobile Data Management Platform (DMP), there are still far too many who have not. 

What's Holding CMOs Back?

Marketers are faced with the challenge of using data in all of their marketing executions, having accountability, and maximizing ROI. This applies to mobile where data is more easily tracked for digital efforts than offline marketing. However, just having data is not enough. You have to be able to analyze and act upon what you discover from your mobile data.

While today's marketers and advertisers realize that mobile marketing should be a key component of their overall marketing mix and cross-channel strategy, they face significant hurdles to do it right. One issue is around identity. As consumers use a mobile device, they create different identifiers depending on whether they log into an app or browse more anonymously on the mobile web. The data they create-whether it's behaviors, preferences, or attributes-can end up in silos across channels. In fact, 85% of digital marketers say the biggest challenge to cross-channel marketing is customer data that's spread across multiple channels. 

Collecting and deriving insights from the massive amounts of consumer data generated each day on various forms of mobile devices is challenging. Marketers need a sophisticated mobile DMP platform to analyze geolocation, purchase, and intent data from millions of mobile consumers, and combine findings with data from online and offline actions to dramatically improve the impact of cross-channel campaigns. 

Take Control

Mobile data management platforms allow brands to take control of their ever-growing mobile advertising programs. Mobile advertising offers a huge opportunity to capture consumers' immediate location-based, in-the-moment interests. Customized mobile advertising, when done effectively, delivers extremely high brand engagement and conversion rates.

With a mobileDMP, brands can harness and analyze the massive amount of customer data generated by mobile devices-including intent, geolocation, and purchase behavior-to better target ads across multiple mobile devices and platforms, from in-app ads on smartphones to mobile web ads and tablet-specific campaigns. 

Download the Mobile Data Management Platform Guide and see how a Mobile DMP can address the mobile challenges marketers face and offer a holistic, cross-device view of your consumers for consistent messaging, easy up-selling, and robust analytics to do more of what works. 

From Campaigns to Conversions – How to Make Sense of the Data You're Presented With

It's the question on every marketer's mind – “How do we turn these impressions, clicks and conversions into something that drives results for our company?”

The fact is, you have a lot on your plate. From new product launches to generating interest to reaching new markets and paying attention to customer sentiment, there's a lot to juggle. Being able to not just make sense of the data you're gathering, but also turn that information into actionable insights is a must-have skill in today's competitive markets.

The good news is, it can be learned – easily.

The Problem with Reach

When everything is measured in terms of reach and impressions, we start creating goals that don't really measure the results we want

In many cases, campaigns are founded with the wrong goal in mind. Everything is measured in “reach”. We look at impressions as the de facto measurement standard when it barely scratches the surface of measuring a consumer's true interest and intent.

The end result, when focusing too much on reach and impressions, is that you might make a boatload of sales, but not be able to map them definitively to any specific campaign or strategy. Even if people first hear about your product through traditional media (TV, print, newspaper), they're very likely to go online and do some more research – and that's where things like reviews, ratings and testimonials can make a significant impact.

Another issue is that most advertising programs assume a straight path to conversions, when the result is anything but. The customer could go from print awareness to online research at your website, but then go offsite to look up user reviews, do some comparison shopping, seek out coupons, watch a product unboxing video, look over the company's Facebook page to see what people are saying, double-back on the comparison shopping engine to find the best deal, and so forth.

The fact is, the conversion path isn't pretty and that's because it's too often tied to wisps of numbers that don't make any meaningful and measurable impact on the bottom line.

Mapping Campaigns to Results

Changing techniques to focus on revenues and relationships requires a change in how we think about campaigns

So how do you tie your campaigns into the kind of insights that deliver the results you need? Let's take a look at some common types of campaigns and how they can be adjusted:

E-Commerce Sales

E-Commerce relies heavily on the power of reviews, testimonials and coupons – so combining these in a way that makes sense (such as putting reviews of that particular product below the customer's item when they go to view their cart) will help reduce cart abandonment rates and seal the deal.

Automatically adding in a coupon (especially for free shipping) only serves to sweeten the deal, and greatly reduces the risk that the customer will go offsite to search for coupons – and potentially to a competitor.

Don't forget the service after the sale either. Following up to inquire about how the customer likes the product, if they've used it yet or have any questions are crucial for keeping your brand front-of-mind in a way that's helpful, not intrusive.

New Product Launch

New product launches are by far the easiest processes to map. Since initiatives are just getting off the ground, you can more easily segment and monitor them across all channels. But even with that kind of segmentation in place, it's worth noting that few customers who “Like” a particular brand (for a discount, sample or whatever) seldom return to that page.

Your main goal in measuring results with new product launches should be to get customers to visualize their lives made better as a result of having your product in it. Your best customer may not say a lot or interact a lot on social media, but they will tell friends and family about you – and that speaks volumes more than any advertising can.

Brick and Mortar Sales

If your product is featured in traditional storefronts, there's a lot you can do to help increase conversions. Create a coupon code for a specific retail chain or even a specific locale so that you can tie results directly to that specific campaign.

Help thwart showrooming (where customers browse in store but buy online) by price matching. Don't force customers to jump through hoops to get the advertised price, either. Move the conversion needle even more by offering users a social coupon. This is one that can be shared with friends, but must be printed and brought to the store to redeem. You can track the success of the campaign through social analytics or the number of coupons redeemed.

There Is No Best Choice

One of the most common questions from the C-Suite with regard to conversions is “which channel drives the most?” Here again, there's too much of a focus hinging on pure numbers and not more valuable (but intangible) things like customer sentiment, recommendations, brand awareness and so on. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to discovering which channel brings the greatest ROI – because there isn't a single channel that does this all the time, for everyone, with every product.

Oftentimes, it's a mix of initiatives that drive the best results. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Look at the mixes of what's driving the most engagement or converting the most first-time users into paying customers – that's the avenue you want to improve conversions on.

How Kissmetrics Can Help

If you're using Kissmetrics, we've made it incredibly easy to see which marketing channels are sending the most profitable visitors.

We do this by using different channels. These channels include visitors who are referred directly to your site, who come by way of a third party, by email, and much more. But simply knowing where they come from is only part of the equation.

What you really want to know is - which visitors are bringing in the revenue?

And because Kissmetrics tracks users, not sessions, you can easily tie revenues to people. This is done by setting up the Revenue Report. Set it up once and let it start tackling the data effortlessly. You can even import your existing sales data if you wish.

An example of a Kissmetrics revenue report segmenting revenue by product category

The most valuable aspect of the Revenue Report is seeing which channels drive your biggest profits - not necessarily the most traffic or even the highest quality traffic - but pure revenues. As stated, you can even segment by marketing channel, so you'll learn not only which campaigns resonate with your target audience, but what that means in terms of your bottom line.

Map It Out

Always look at strategy from a point of constant improvement rather than a “once and done” campaign

Some of us marketers are just visual learners who perform best when an idea is fully mapped out – so don't hesitate to do this if you feel it will give you a better idea of how to move forward. Draw a horizontal “timeline” showing the different touch points where your customer interacts with your product or service in any way. Then, draw a vertical line showing the stages of the sales funnel.

Now look at it carefully and see where and how the different areas intersect and mingle with each other. Are there areas where customers are dropping off considerably? Are there touch points where the customer isn't getting the help or clarification they need? When you map out the process, it's amazing the findings that will suddenly come to light!

No matter what, going from campaigns to conversions isn't about looking at the raw data as win or lose. It's about looking at the big picture of which campaigns cultivated the kind of customer sentiment and brand awareness you want while minimizing friction or cart abandonment. And more often than not, these kinds of results will come from many different campaigns and channels.

It requires a shift in how you think about conversions and how they tie into overall customer retention, to be sure, but making that shift and looking at initiatives in terms of wide-reaching strategies rather than one-off campaigns can make a significant difference in all areas of business.

Have you integrated any of these ideas into your own campaigns? What kind of results have you gotten? Share your thoughts and comments with us below!

About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversion rates through compelling copywriting, user-friendly design and smart analytics analysis. Learn more at iElectrify.com and download your free web copy tune-up and conversion checklist today!

How to Run Meetings Nobody Hates

How to Run Meetings Nobody Hates written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with Cameron Herold

It's pretty much a given in most organizations – meetings are a necessary evil and that's just it – they are evil.

The thing is – it's not that meetings suck – it's that most people suck at running them.

I often joke that the reason I work for myself is to avoid meetings.

My guest for this week's episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Cameron Herold, business growth guru, Former COO of 1-800-Got-Junk, author of the best-selling book, Double Double. Cameron also recently released a new book called Meetings Suck: Turning One of the Most Loathed Elements of Business into One of the Most Valuable. Cameron and I discuss how, when done right, meetings not only work but they make people and companies better.

Herold outlines the precise steps he takes to create and run valuable meetings.

Cameron knows all about how to effectively grow a business and is known around the world as THE BUSINESS GROWTH GURU. He is the mastermind behind hundreds of companies' exponential growth and has built three $100-million dollar companies.

Questions I ask Cameron Herold:

• How much does an organization's culture impact the way that a meeting is run?


• Do you have analytics on the increase in proficiency and profits that running more efficient meetings can bring to an organization?


• Is there a “sweet spot” in terms of an ideal length for meetings?

What you'll learn if you give a listen:

• How setting clear expectations prior to a meeting can make the outcome more productive


• Why having rhythms are important and how they help improve communication


• What a “7-minute daily huddle” is and why it's important for your organization

Learn more about Cameron Herold and his latest book, Meetings Suck, here – also, check out The COO Alliance – an organization created by Herold to help develop COOs.

This week's Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Alignable!

Alignable is the network exclusively for business owners to network with each other, generate referrals and co-promotions together. Connect with fellow business owners nearby in your community today! 

#SocialSkim: Instagram Just Cloned Snapchat Stories, Plus 10 More Stories This Week

This week: imitation. Instagram essentially integrated a copy of Snapchat within its app (with one major advantage); Facebook and Twitter took a play from YouTube's book to attract well-known creator influencers; and LinkedIn made a foray into video. Read the full article at MarketingProfs