As consumers continue to buy online, retailers are under more and more pressure to refine their sites to convert to sales. However, the average conversion rate for most e-comm sites is still hovering around the 3-4% mark globally. While there are a myriad of reasons of why someone would leave your site before buying, one of the main causes is usually attributed to not delivering the product information they were seeking. This can be solved through optimizing your product pages with more in-depth information, such as images, videos, and consumer reviews. Given that updating an e-comm site to add this content usually requires integration between the UX, creative, development and marketing departments, it can take a while to get changes made. Enter Flixmedia, a UK-based company who is the leader in product page optimization*. Flixmedia has made it easy for retailers to quickly add in enhanced product information to their site pages. Using existing assets, they are able to seamlessly incorporate product imagery and videos into the product page. They also use innovative technology in their dynamic hotspots, giving consumers an opportunity to interact with the product. Why are we so obsessed with Flixmedia? Because they produce results. Adding interactive hotspots has resulted in increasing conversion rates by 28%. Adding imagery and videos to product pages has grown Add to Cart rates by an average of 23%. Don’t spend all that time and money driving traffic to a site that doesn’t convert. Optimize your product pages to give consumers the information they are looking for and leave that 3-4% in the dust. *Full disclosure: Flixmedia is owned by our same parent company, Advantage Solutions

I just read a Content Marketing article which discussed whether Content Marketing needs to be rebranded now that it’s been a buzz term in the industry for a handful of years. For those of you that know me, I absolutely loathe forced marketing lingo. I’d like to think that many people see right through it, but maybe I’m overestimating the “BS” meter than people are born with. With that said, imagine ourselves in a professional situation. Let’s assume we're colleagues and we’ve come across one another at various events and we have a cordial professional relationship. At an industry event, I turn to you and say,“What are your thoughts on leveraging a synergistic approach to acquiring palliative hydration?” Translation: “Do you want to go grab a beer with me?” Of course, you wouldn’t want to get a beer with me, because I’ve just outed myself as a giant arse. For some reason, I feel that marketers are constantly trying to reinvent the wheel. I get it. Our job is trying to sell things, but whether we’re trying to sell something to fellow marketers or the general public, a certain level of honesty needs to be involved. This notion is especially true in the case of content marketing. Content marketing is pretty simple. Employ a value based entity with the desired outcome of positive absorption (Non- jargon translation: Write stuff that people want to read that provides them with value). Google has figured this out. Organic rankings are no longer filled with fluff results from SEO’s overstuffing keywords and manipulating the latest algorithms. Sure, there is still an art to SEO, but organic rankings are now based on Google’s machine-based algorithms, aka robots, who ignore all the cheesy jargon. And while we are on the topic of cheese, let’s talk about a real life example. If you’re a brand that wants to sell more cheese, try positioning yourself as the ultimate authority on cheese. Answer all of the questions people have about cheese in a useful and valuable manner. Google will see you as being a purveyor of valuable content. People will start thinking of you as an authority on cheese and they’ll trust your brand more than the brand that just tells you that their cheese is the best, and then talks about how great their founders are. If you don’t tell them which kind of cheese pairs best with Pinot Noir, somebody else will. What it comes down to, is that agency folks need to be honest with brands. Content about mission statements or awards is not what converts. People are generally not interested in anything aside from what they’re typing into a search engine at that specific moment. Be their buddy and give them an answer they’ll feel good about. Do your research to figure out what people are looking for. You just might be rewarded with free organic traffic for years to come.

Anticipation and Information Overload  Consumers are spending more time planning and researching their vacations, and they’re using multiple devices to do so. Online research typically starts 45 days before booking, with most individuals devoting 2-3 hours to research. Our study showed that 16% claim to spend 6 or more hours planning. While travelers still rely primarily on their laptops, millennials are increasingly using their smartphones to conduct research. The number of websites visited by travelers while planning a trip is on the rise. Hotel websites and apps are the most frequently used, followed by airline websites and apps. Our survey showed that 38% of respondents claim to spend at least one-hour reading travel reviews, while another 30% spends two hours. Still, most of travelers’ time planning is spent looking for the best deal - especially when it comes to flights and hotels. Consumers will check multiple sites on multiple days to ensure they are getting the best price, yet even then fear they are overspending. However, with so much information available, travelers feel confident in planning their own itinerary, with 78% claiming to enjoy the research and planning process. Despite the depth of research, many consumers still suffer from FOMO - fear of missing out - if they skip a particular activity, restaurant, or attraction at their destination. In fact, even though they profess to enjoy the process, 72% of individuals said they feel overwhelmed or sometimes feel overwhelmed when planning a trip. Once travelers arrive at their destination, many continue their research process. However, at the end of the day, most individuals (79%) said they felt they had spent the right amount of time planning their trip once they’ve arrived. While consumers overall seem relatively happy with the planning process, there is ample opportunity for travel brands to better serve them. We found that 39% of travelers felt personalized recommendations would make trip-planning more enjoyable, while another 31% stated they would want recommendations that come from a real person (i.e., not automated). The most frequently requested service for which travelers turn to booking engines is the ability to book multiple travel elements (flight, lodging, excursions), followed by the ability to see all of their itinerary details in one place. Very few existing booking experiences perform either of these tasks well. Existing online travel agents (OTAs) face threats by new services that can better aggregate and bundle multiple trip components – services that behave like a simplifier, not just an aggregator of data. Meanwhile, brands are also atomized in this planning process. They live as micro-moments across myriad devices and touchpoints. Brands that uphold strong and consistent behavioral guidelines will have an easier time building meaning across so many small interactions. Key Takeaways: Hotels and airlines should invest in their websites and apps as they are the most used resources for travelers during the planning phase. Start acting as a simplifier to meet the needs of travelers who are overwhelmed when planning a trip. To learn more, download our newest Whitepaper, ‘Targeting Moments of Need in the new Travel Landscape’ – here.

This year’s presidential election grabbed the attention of the country at historic levels.  According to Nielsen, over 71 million people watched the results during prime time on Tuesday, and it was the most-watched night of programming in the history of both CNN and Fox News. During this historic event, search queries for real estate and travel plummeted, while queries related to the economy spiked. Searches for “mortgage rates,” “interest rates,” “stock market crash,” and even “how to move to Canada” dominated the web as the election unfolded. So why is interest in real estate and travel suffering so much during this election? Here’s our theory: significant changes in leadership often cause uncertainty. A new president may mean new economic policies and any number of unknown measures to come. Anxiety for the future of the US economy has caused people to temporarily pause their pursuit of travel and real estate. The good news is that search interest has already begun to recover over the days since the election, and will hopefully soon be back to pre-election volumes.  Our team will be watching these trends closely and reporting on the behaviors of a more cautious search audience in the days and weeks to come.

https://youtu.be/_BKhs9RyBIM AMP Agency leverages Lotame's Data Exchange and DMP to power MomentAware (a proprietary in-moment marketing solution that delivers the industry's most detailed audience segments) to increase engagement by 250% and decrease data cost by 83% for a leading Pet Care Brand. OBJECTIVE:  AMP Agency wanted to support a major Pet Care Brand with advanced audience targeting in order to find a niche group of pet owners most likely to respond and engage with their marketing and recruitment efforts. To do this, they relied on MomentAware, AMP's proprietary solution backed by Lotame's Data Management Platform, which marries AMP's rich demographic, psychographic, CRM and location data with a massive network of device signals (~150 MM unique mobile devices monthly). STRATEGY:  Using MomentAware and Lotame's Data Management Platform in tandem, AMP's data points provide valuable insights into consumers' pet ownership and preferences ( Dog/ Golden Retriever, Cat/ Persian), the pet owner's choice and location of grooming and veterinarian care, frequency of pet care, even the approximate location and times pet owners walk and exercise with their pets. AMP was able to enhance their existing data with additional demographics, interest, and purchase behaviors from Lotame's Data Exchange to create a robust profile of the pet owner and ensure marketing messages were delivered when and where pet owners are most receptive to messaging and offers. RESULTS:  By employing MomentAware, consumer engagement, as measured by click-through rate, increased by 250%, showcasing the advanced relevancy in regards to targeting. Thousands of new pet owners were identified that weren't included in standard third party audience segments and the advanced device graph opened up an opportunity to message consumers across devises, in the moments when they're most likely to engage. In addition, AMP Agency was able to generate data costs savings of 83% for this Pet Care Brand. Want similar results? Get in touch- info@ampagency.com  _________________________________________________________________________ About AMP Agency:  AMP Agency is a full service marketing agency with offices in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles At AMP, we believe in better ideas created a different way. It's in our heritage. Through the years, we've morphed from a non-traditional marketing agency into a full-service shop. Today, we're a team of 200+ intellectually curious individuals who are eager to solve your business challenges. About Lotame:  Lotame is a universal cross-device data management platform that is humanizing the consumer decision journey by empowering enterprises to deliver more relevant content, products, and services. Lotame unifies and enriches the world's data to create more meaningful relationships and increase commerce and brand loyalty.    

'Graph Search'? is the long awaited Facebook search engine that, according to Mark Zuckerberg, will be replacing the old white search box that many of us found no use for aside from finding Facebook friends. The new 'Graph Search'? is now in beta and available to only a few select users. While some see this move as a major upgrade, others see it as Facebook once again pushing privacy boundaries. Zuckerberg coins this new method of search as 'the new pillar of Facebook'? that will most likely change the way we view search in the years to come. Only the test of time will tell us if it can handle itself against the search engine titan that is Google. Facebook is a social data warehouse that's centered on people, photos, places and interests. Now with Graph Search and years of collected data, Facebook will become a multidimensional search engine. We will now be able to ask it complex questions that normally a search engine wouldn't be able to answer like 'Which restaurants do my friends like in Boston," 'Which of my co-workers are New England Patriots fans," or 'Which friends of my friends work in marketing, and graduated from BU.'? Recommendations are from actual people you know rather than strangers like when using Yelp, which has the ability to revolutionize word of mouth advertising. Zuckerberg also mentioned during the announcement that Facebook will be partnering with Bing to offer the best of both web and social search within the Graph Search results. Zuckerberg's new creation is focused on "making new connections" that can introduce you to new friends of friends in a more natural and social way. This breakthrough could only be possible because of their data from over one billion users. With that data, they'll now be able to generate actual answers to queries by using social signals instead of keywords and links, which will have us using Facebook in an entirely different way while possibly changing the direction of search engines entirely. We will have the power and resources to be able to recruit for jobs, find friends to hang out with spontaneously, find new bars and restaurants. It will even help single people find dates. Zuckerberg is furthering the original idea that started Facebook, which is connecting people together by providing an unmatchable product. If it sounds too perfect to be true, it just may be. There is no question that Facebook has a long road ahead to perfecting their new search engine. Keep in mind, what mainly drives their search results are 'shares'? and'?likes'? through users. This is asking every one of your friends and you to be diligently active on Facebook to 'check in'? and 'like'? places, post photos and fill out interests. Out of the hundred, or hundreds, or maybe even thousands of friends, who would you trust to give reliable recommendations? Think about how much thought we actually put into the 'liking'? process. There are times where we all might have just 'liked'? something for the sheer fun of it. Facebook will run into multiple obstacles along the way, but that's the very reason why they are gradually giving access to a limited amount of users, collecting data and tweaking code, before making it public to everyone on Facebook. So is this the start of the battle between Facebook and Google that many of us have been anticipating? Maybe not, Facebook foresees it as an evolution of the way we see search. Zuckerberg might have looked beyond becoming a competitor and begun the development of changing the game completely. Google and Yahoo! are not the only ones that should be raising an eyebrow, but other social sites like LinkedIn, Monster, Yelp and even Match.com need to realize that Facebook will challenge their livelihoods in their industries. If Facebook passes through the kinks and trials they are bound to face in the years to come, they could ultimately change the way we view and see the world as we know it, again.

Set it and forget it? It's the ultimate fantasy for all performance marketers: the ability to simply plug in keywords, phrases, titles and descriptions and watch data and results come pouring in. No mess, no hassle'just the reports you need, when you need them. Unfortunately, that's a fantasy. Automation is only part of the total marketing picture. If you want truly actionable insight, you also need humans to derive meaning and determine real-time enhancements. AMP Agency's Account Director and Digital Strategist, Amy Seeburger, Senior Paid Search Specialist, Jason Keaveny, and Marin Software's Director of Product Marketing, Jason Young, hosted a webinar discussing how combining advanced automation and human insight leads to a successful marketing campaign. View the presentation below. Advanced Automation from AMP Agency    

In a move as confusing as his 1994 foray into gangsta' rap, Hammer (formerly MC Hammer) is launching his own search engine called WireDoo. After all, nothing is more 'gangsta'? than droppin' fresh new algorithms across the current search engine landscape. All weirdness aside, Hammer claims that WireDoo will spotlight 'deep search,'? and topics closely related to search queries. For instance, if somebody searches for 'Hammer's mansion,'? they might also get results for debt consolidation and insanity medication. When Hammer spoke at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco, he helped explain relationship inspired search by comparing it to gathering home buying information. If someone were to search for 'homes in Cambridge, MA,'? they might also receive information regarding area schools, neighborhoods, and other city related information. Whether WireDoo is successful or not, Hammer has successfully come up with an idea that is unique to its competitors. If the celebrity of Hammer is enough to get people using WireDoo, the premise is interesting enough that in a best case scenario, WireDoo could end up merging with an established engine. Granted, it will be important to actually wait until the engine is launched, but the fact that it will enter the market with a lot of hype could give it a fighting chance initially. Think about it, for as important as search is in our daily lives, it has had little celebrity influence'?¦.until now. *Disclaimer- The rest of this article contains no truth whatsoever: One odd thing I noticed about WireDoo was that every #1 ranking featured anchor text stating the words 'U Can't Touch This.'? The anchor text linked to the song on iTunes. I soon became concerned that Hammer might only have his own interests in levitra online sales mind with his new business endeavor. For instance, when somebody searches for 'Reebok Pumps,'? the 1st search result is a link to his song 'Pumps and a Bump'? on iTunes. I became even more suspicious when I did a search for 'kidnapping,'? and all that came up was a link to buy his song 'Have You Seen Her?'? Come on Hammer'?¦that's just inappropriate! When I typed in 'financial disaster,'? it was evident that one of his developers played a joke on him, because all that came up was the following image: Hammer will also be launching his own analytics platform to coincide with the launch of WireDoo. WireDoo's analytics platform differs from the likes of Google and Bing in the way that it provides an easy to understand grading system that lets webmasters see exactly how their site is performing. Hammer's grading system is as follows: 2 Legit 2 Quit = Outstanding It's All Good = Good Work This = Needs Improvement Pray = This Site Sucks You guessed it - each grade (song title) contains a link to buy the song on iTunes. In conclusion, if your search and analytics results have been void of all things Hammer, 'Here Comes the Hammer'? to the rescue.

In a move as confusing as his 1994 foray into gangsta' rap, Hammer (formerly MC Hammer) is launching his own search engine called WireDoo. After all, nothing is more 'gangsta'? than droppin' fresh new algorithms across the current search engine landscape. All weirdness aside, Hammer claims that WireDoo will spotlight 'deep search,'? and topics closely related to search queries. For instance, if somebody searches for 'Hammer's mansion,'? they might also get results for debt consolidation and insanity medication. When Hammer spoke at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco, he helped explain relationship inspired search by comparing it to gathering home buying information. If someone were to search for 'homes in Cambridge, MA,'? they might also receive information regarding area schools, neighborhoods, and other city related information. Whether WireDoo is successful or not, Hammer has successfully come up with an idea that is unique to its competitors. If the celebrity of Hammer is enough to get people using WireDoo, the premise is interesting enough that in a best case scenario, WireDoo could end up merging with an established engine. Granted, it will be important to actually wait until the engine is launched, but the fact that it will enter the market with a lot of hype could give it a fighting chance initially. Think about it, for as important as search is in our daily lives, it has had little celebrity influence'?¦.until now. *Disclaimer- The rest of this article contains no truth whatsoever: One odd thing I noticed about WireDoo was that every #1 ranking featured anchor text stating the words 'U Can't Touch This.'? The anchor text linked to the song on iTunes. I soon became concerned that Hammer might only have his own interests in levitra online sales mind with his new business endeavor. For instance, when somebody searches for 'Reebok Pumps,'? the 1st search result is a link to his song 'Pumps and a Bump'? on iTunes. I became even more suspicious when I did a search for 'kidnapping,'? and all that came up was a link to buy his song 'Have You Seen Her?'? Come on Hammer'?¦that's just inappropriate! When I typed in 'financial disaster,'? it was evident that one of his developers played a joke on him, because all that came up was the following image: Hammer will also be launching his own analytics platform to coincide with the launch of WireDoo. WireDoo's analytics platform differs from the likes of Google and Bing in the way that it provides an easy to understand grading system that lets webmasters see exactly how their site is performing. Hammer's grading system is as follows: 2 Legit 2 Quit = Outstanding It's All Good = Good Work This = Needs Improvement Pray = This Site Sucks You guessed it - each grade (song title) contains a link to buy the song on iTunes. In conclusion, if your search and analytics results have been void of all things Hammer, 'Here Comes the Hammer'? to the rescue.

In a move as confusing as his 1994 foray into gangsta' rap, Hammer (formerly MC Hammer) is launching his own search engine called WireDoo. After all, nothing is more 'gangsta'? than droppin' fresh new algorithms across the current search engine landscape. All weirdness aside, Hammer claims that WireDoo will spotlight 'deep search,'? and topics closely related to search queries. For instance, if somebody searches for 'Hammer's mansion,'? they might also get results for debt consolidation and insanity medication. When Hammer spoke at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco, he helped explain relationship inspired search by comparing it to gathering home buying information. If someone were to search for 'homes in Cambridge, MA,'? they might also receive information regarding area schools, neighborhoods, and other city related information. Whether WireDoo is successful or not, Hammer has successfully come up with an idea that is unique to its competitors. If the celebrity of Hammer is enough to get people using WireDoo, the premise is interesting enough that in a best case scenario, WireDoo could end up merging with an established engine. Granted, it will be important to actually wait until the engine is launched, but the fact that it will enter the market with a lot of hype could give it a fighting chance initially. Think about it, for as important as search is in our daily lives, it has had little celebrity influence'?¦.until now. *Disclaimer- The rest of this article contains no truth whatsoever: One odd thing I noticed about WireDoo was that every #1 ranking featured anchor text stating the words 'U Can't Touch This.'? The anchor text linked to the song on iTunes. I soon became concerned that Hammer might only have his own interests in levitra online sales mind with his new business endeavor. For instance, when somebody searches for 'Reebok Pumps,'? the 1st search result is a link to his song 'Pumps and a Bump'? on iTunes. I became even more suspicious when I did a search for 'kidnapping,'? and all that came up was a link to buy his song 'Have You Seen Her?'? Come on Hammer'?¦that's just inappropriate! When I typed in 'financial disaster,'? it was evident that one of his developers played a joke on him, because all that came up was the following image: Hammer will also be launching his own analytics platform to coincide with the launch of WireDoo. WireDoo's analytics platform differs from the likes of Google and Bing in the way that it provides an easy to understand grading system that lets webmasters see exactly how their site is performing. Hammer's grading system is as follows: 2 Legit 2 Quit = Outstanding It's All Good = Good Work This = Needs Improvement Pray = This Site Sucks You guessed it - each grade (song title) contains a link to buy the song on iTunes. In conclusion, if your search and analytics results have been void of all things Hammer, 'Here Comes the Hammer'? to the rescue.