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Google Surpasses Apple for Mobile Ad Traffic for the First Time in Q1 2014

Google Surpasses Apple for Mobile Ad Traffic for the First Time in Q1 2014

apple androidThere was big news in mobile advertising this week, and it’s a sign of a significant shift that brand marketers need to know about. For the first time, Google’s Android surpassed Apple’s iOS and took the top spot for mobile ad traffic for the first quarter of 2014. The data comes from Opera Mediaworks’ Q1 2014 State of Mobile Advertising report.

Not only did Google steal the number one global mobile ad traffic position from Apple with 42.8% of mobile ad traffic compared to 38.2% for Apple, but it also had big gains in year-over-year monetization. At the end of the first quarter of 2014, Android accounted for over 33% of mobile ad revenue, which is a 24% increase over its 26.7% of mobile ad revenue at the same time in 2013.

Focusing on just the U.K. market, Apple’s iOS still holds the top spot with 55% of ad impressions and 66.9% of ad revenue. This isn’t surprising considering Apple’s dominant market share position with 62.3% of unique U.K. users tracked by Opera Mediaworks having iOS devices compared to just 18.6% for Android and 14% for BlackBerry.

The report also offers some statistics related to U.K. mobile users’ preferences and behaviors. For example, U.K. mobile users prefer mobile apps, not mobile websites. Opera Mediaworks determined this based on ad impressions, with mobile apps accounting for 72% of ad impressions in the U.K. market, which is significantly higher than what was found in the global market (31%). Furthermore, U.K. mobile users aren’t afraid to click on mobile video ads. In fact, mobile video ads account for one in seven mobile ads in the U.K., which is much higher than the one in 40 ratio identified globally. As a result, click-through rates on rich-media ads are nearly twice the click-through rates on banner ads in the U.K.

Google’s Android has been the dominant platform for some time now, but app developers and advertisers continued to put their time and money into Apple’s iOS. It’s easier from a development standpoint to develop for Apple’s standard operating system than it is to develop for Google’s operating system that can differ from one device and one manufacturer to another. However, ad traffic and ad revenue statistics are showing that there is a shift happening, and ignoring or de-prioritizing Google’s Android is not a good strategy anymore.

What do you think? Is your brand focused primarily on Apple iOS or does your marketing strategy give Apple iOS and Google Android equal attention? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the mobile shift and what it means to brand marketers.

Image: Karlis Dambrans

Brand Marketing on YouTube – It’s Not Just for Young People

youtube laptop tvDon’t discount YouTube for marketing your brand. While YouTube has a reputation as a site for young people to watch and share short videos, the audience is actually a lot more diverse. In fact, 50% of the U.K. YouTube audience is over the age of 35 and 90% is over the age of 18.

That’s just two statistics released in a new study conducted by Google and Ipsos MediaCT. The YouTube Audience Study surveyed over 1,500 people between the ages of 13 and 64 in the U.K. during mid-2013, and the results reveal interesting opportunities for brand marketers.

Here are some compelling statistics about U.K. YouTube users that might make you rethink how you’re using YouTube to market your brand:

  • 48% are connected to more than 100 people online.
  • 50% talk about the content they watch on YouTube with other people.
  • 44% share videos they watch on YouTube with other people.
  • 50% share or reshare links.
  • 31% are amongst the first to try new products (vs. 14% of non-YouTube users).
  • 58% tell everyone about the brands they love (vs. 33% of non-YouTube users).
  • 41% have taken an action after watching an ad on YouTube.
  • 56% are male.
  • 65% have medium to high incomes.
  • 99% have medium to high education.
  • 89% use the internet daily.
  • Music videos are the most popular (59%) followed by comedy (44%) and how-to/do-it-yourself (40%).
  • 60% watch YouTube videos to be entertained.

While brand videos and ads are certainly not the first things that YouTube users in the U.K. look for, they’re not entirely averse to watching branded content on YouTube. More than one in three (36%) of U.K. YouTube users would rather watch a brand video on YouTube than a commercial, and 34% think that more companies should use YouTube to help them learn about those companies and brands. Furthermore, 28% of U.K. YouTube users believe that the site is a great place for brands to connect with them. More than one out of four U.K. YouTube users are motivated to make purchase decisions based on brand and user content as well as ads that they see on the site. For example, 27% get ideas for things to buy from YouTube videos and 26% say that YouTube helps them decide which products or brands to buy.

A particularly interesting part of the study results identifies when and how people in the U.K. use YouTube. For all locations, people used their smartphones to access YouTube more than any other device. These locations included at another person’s home, at school, on-the-go, at a restaurant or store, or at a social gathering. U.K. YouTube users were only more likely to use desktop computers to access YouTube when they were at home or work. For all categories, users were least likely to access YouTube with a tablet device. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the survey was actually conducted nearly a year ago. If the study were conducted again now, recent trends in increased mobile device usage means that it’s likely tablet usage would be much higher as would smartphone usage while desktop usage would likely be down at all locations.

Are you leveraging YouTube appropriately to connect with your target audience for brand marketing? It’s not just for kids. According to this study, your audience is using YouTube.

Image: Thomas van de Weerd

Brands and the Disease of Data Paralysis – The 3-Step Cure

marketing big dataIs your brand suffering from data paralysis disease?

Your brand might have data paralysis disease and your business results are already suffering. If you’re slow to take action and unwilling to take risks that can’t be supported by metrics, then your brand will suffer from data paralysis disease.

Don’t worry. It’s curable.

The first step to curing data paralysis disease is recognizing the symptoms listed above. Once you admit that your brand has a problem, you can make the necessary changes to cure it.

Step 1: Accept the existence of conflicting data.

In simplest terms, data paralysis happens when brand marketers have access to so much data that they become overwhelmed. They’re incapable of narrowing their focus and distilling real meaning from the data. If a piece of data doesn’t fit their expectations, decisions come to a grinding halt.

If there is so much information in your way that you can’t move forward, then you’re enabling conflicting data to paralyze your brand. To cure your brand of data paralysis, you need to learn how to avoid getting so caught up in the details that you can’t see the big picture.

Step 2: Accept that numbers can lie.

Data can be massaged to tell a wide variety of stories. Therefore, making decisions based on the data provided to you by other people should be done with consideration for the source.

In other words, don’t believe the first numbers provided to you and stop forward momentum on an initiative because that set of data didn’t support its viability. This is self-imposed data paralysis, and you need to be prepared to question the numbers from time to time.

Step 3: Accept that you can’t always wait for data.

Quick decision-making is what separates an agile business that can seize opportunities from the pack. Data takes time to compile and analyze, so it’s critical that you have a constant flow of data through marketing automation and an experienced and intelligent analyst team.

However, you can’t always wait for all of the data to come in. The best leaders know that part of business success often ties to risk-taking, and that might mean making decisions before you have access to all of the numbers.

To cure your brand of data paralysis disease, you need to recognize the limitations and opportunities that data provides, but don’t forget the human element required to effectively analyze that data and make decisions based on it (or without it).

Image: lustfish

The Gap Between Brand Marketers, Agencies, and Customer Lifetime Value

mind-the-gapWhat tactics are most effective to improve customer lifetime value for brands? That’s one of the questions Econsultancy and Sitecore aimed to answer in their recent research study, Customer Lifetime Value: Building Loyalty and Driving Revenue in the Digital Age.

In a study of both brand marketers and agencies, primarily from the United Kingdom (45%) and in other parts of Europe (22%), it was revealed that while there is consensus on the importance of building customer lifetime value, there is great disparity in how that customer lifetime value should be developed.

The biggest gap was found in how brand marketers and agencies valued the effectiveness of loyalty programs for building customer lifetime value. 31% of agency respondents to the study survey ranked loyalty programs as one of the top three most effective tactics to building customer lifetime value while just 18% of brand marketers ranked loyalty programs in the top three. On the other hand, 42% of brand marketers ranked the effectiveness of improvements to customer services in the top three while just 34% of agencies did the same.

Let’s take a closer look at how tactics stacked up in the minds of brand marketers versus agencies.

Tactics Ranked as Most Effective by More Agencies than Brand Marketers

  • Loyalty program: Agencies = 31% vs. Brand Marketers = 18%
  • Customer segmentation/personas: Agencies = 32% vs. Brand Marketers = 24%
  • Multichannel/omnichannel marketing: Agencies = 21% vs. Brand Marketers = 13%
  • Focus on online experience: Agencies = 27% vs. Brand Marketers = 22%
  • More effective use of data: Agencies = 30% vs. Brand Marketers = 26%

Tactics Ranked as Most Effective by More Brand Marketers than Agencies

  • Improvements to customer services: Brand Marketers = 42% vs. Agencies = 34%
  • Cross-selling/upselling: Brand Marketers = 29% vs. Agencies = 22%
  • Better advertising and flow of messaging: Brand Marketers = 12% vs. Agencies = 9%
  • Improved pricing for repeat purchases: Brand Marketers = 15% vs. Agencies = 13%
  • Subscription models: Brand Marketers = 12% vs. Agencies = 11%
  • Increased investment in marketing technologies: Brand Marketers = 10% vs. Agencies = 9%

Interestingly, 34% of brand marketers and 34% of agencies rated personalized interactions (via email or online) as one of the top three most effective tactics for improving customer lifetime value.

The gap between how brand marketers and agencies view the effectiveness of tactics used to build customer lifetime value is concerning because the misalignment in thinking can lead to miscommunications, frustration, increased time required to implement programs, and decreased results. Brand marketers must ensure the agency they work with isn’t pushing their own agenda but rather supporting the brand’s goals in the most effective ways possible. At the same time, brand marketers need to stay open to new ideas, new tactics, and the evolving world of marketing and consumer behaviors.

Bottom-line, there has never been a more critical time for brand marketers to build open, agile, and honest relationships with agencies. Take the time to determine if gaps exist between the way you and your agency think—not just about building customer lifetime value, but about all aspects of your marketing strategy and opportunities. Navigate through those gaps with your agency, and your short-term and long-term results should improve. As a result, customer lifetime value should improve, too.

What do you think?

Image: Philip Jackson

Twitter Ads Are Irrelevant to 4 out of 5 Users

twitter eggsNew research from Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. reveals interesting insights into Twitter users’ behaviors and perceptions that brands need to understand. The study found that nearly half of active Twitter users are very engaged and use the platform more than once per day. In fact, daily average use of Twitter isn’t far behind Facebook’s daily average use.

More than one out of two Twitter users (51%) want to learn about news and related events when they visit the platform. Furthermore, more than one out of three Twitter users (37%) use the social media platform to find interesting content and articles. In other words, Twitter isn’t just a communications and broadcasting tool. It’s very much a content discovery tool, which is very important for brands to understand and consider during the development of content marketing and social media marketing strategies.

Two areas of the study results are most important to brands: mobile and advertising. Let’s look at the results in both areas in more detail.

Mobile Twitter Usage and What It Means for Brands

More than three out of four Twitter users (76%) use the platform via mobile devices. Nearly 72% of active Twitter users access the site using mobile apps while more than 13% use Twitter mobile websites. Only 58% access the site via desktop or laptop.

The Takeaway: For brands, this means you need to create content and promotions that are mobile-friendly. Make sure links in tweets and ads lead to landing pages are mobile-optimized.

Twitter Advertising and What Brands Need to Know

Nearly two out of three Twitter users (60%) responded to the Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. survey stating that they have seen an ad on Twitter, but 40% stated that they have never seen ad ad on Twitter. That means one of two things—either ads are so unobtrusive that Twitter users simply don’t realize that they’re ads or Twitter users really aren’t seeing those ads.

The study also found that of those Twitter users who have seen ads, 83% of them do not believe that the ads they’ve seen on Twitter are relevant or useful to them.

The Takeaway: For brands, these findings mean that Twitter advertising investments are unlikely to drive the return on investment they need. Fortunately, Twitter has introduced more audience targeting features to its advertising options. It is imperative that brands use those targeting tools to increase the relevancy and usefulness of Twitter ads so the audience notices them and takes action.

You can follow the link at the beginning of this article to read the full report from Deutsche Bank Market Research.

Image: Garrett Heath

How B2B Buyers Use Content Throughout the Purchase Decision Funnel

decision making mazeFor B2B buyers, brand content and third-party content play critical roles in helping them make purchase decisions. Throughout the purchase cycle, B2B buyers at all levels within the organization consume, share, and discuss both brand content and third-party content and rely heavily on it for vendor selection and product and services selection.

A new study from Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and NetLine Corporation found that online content is highly influential for B2B buyers. The study surveyed executives from 30 different industries and found that three needs drive B2B buyers to actively seek out content to support specific decisions.

Nearly two out of three B2B buyers (62%) seek out content to learn about new market developments and industry practices, while nearly the same number of people (60%) seek out content to discover new solutions that could address specific needs. Just over one in two B2B buyers (52%) seek out content to address a project that is already in progress (or about to commence) for their companies.

The report also found that B2B buyers can be segmented into three categories of buyers in relation to their use of brand content during the purchase process: researchers, influencers, and decision makers. Depending on which category a person falls in, their content needs and consumption habits differ. For example, researchers look for broad content and focus on finding educational content that can help them better understand industry trends and advancements. Influencers are most interested in trusted third-party content and vendor-branded data sheets, technical specifications, and use cases. On the other hand, decision makers want research reports, analyst commentary, and data.

Notice that the three categories of buyers—researchers, influencers, and decision makers—each play different roles within the decision-making process. Researchers are busiest early in the process, but they’re still active toward the end of the process. The activity level of influencers and decision makers grows as decision making moves closer to the end of the decision funnel.

This activity level also correlates with the content use cycle of brand content from the beginning of the decision funnel to the end of the decision funnel and beyond. Following are the three primary steps of the B2B purchase decision making process, so you can see how the data from the study ties to each.

Step 1: Information Gathering for RFP Development

Early in the decision-making process, 40% of B2B buyers who responded to the CMO Council survey indicated that they use content to identify potential suppliers and partners. For example, 51% use third-party content to get objective information about best practices and best-in-class solutions. In this early stage, research reports are highly influential and very useful in raising awareness of brands, products, and services.

Brands should keep in mind that the decision making process begins with 68% of B2B buyers searching for content using search engines and portals while 40% go directly to brand and vendor websites. Not to be overlooked, 25% of B2B buyers find content after clicking on an email link sent by a trusted third-party or a friend or colleague.

Lesson for Brands: Early in the decision-making process, brands must be represented in third-party, thought leadership content.

Step 2: RFP Review and Vendor Selection

During the second phase of the decision-making process, B2B buyers look for objective content to support their findings from step one. They use this data as they review RFP responses from vendors. This content comes from third-parties as well as directly from brands, so brands must have their data-driven content readily available.

For 44% of respondents to the CMO Council survey, technical details and specs about products ranked as the second most valuable type of content to make buying decisions. This data-driven content can come from third party reviews, etc., but brands must have it at consumers’ fingertips as well. B2B buyers rely heavily on industry studies, technical specifications, analyst reviews, expert commentary, and third-party content during step two.

Lesson for Brands: During the second phase of the decision-making process, brands must ensure B2B buyers have easy access to data that supports its claims within its RFP response. Furthermore, brands must be represented in third-party content such as expert commentary, analyst reviews, and industry studies.

Step 3: Post-Purchase Supplementation

After the vendor has been selected, the use of third-party and brand content doesn’t end. In fact, the study found that 82% of B2B buyers continue to use content after the purchase has been made to identify potential add-on purchases. They use content for education, to stay current on industry trends that might affect their future purchase needs, and to identify new solutions that could benefit their companies. Just because the single transaction is over doesn’t mean there aren’t ongoing opportunities for brands to connect with these B2B buyers in the future.

Lesson for Brands: After the purchase decision has been made, brands must continue to be represented in third-party content of all kinds, and brands must continue to publish useful, high quality content of their own.

Bottom-line, content isn’t transactional. It adds lifetime value, and brands need to start viewing it as such.

Image: Steven Goodwin