Is Google selling leads in the UK?

Every so often a simple Google search reveals a hint at a new Google initiative.

In recent months we've seen various different types of ad extension formats and it seems that selling leads rather than clicks could be the next big push in Google's continuing search for revenue streams away from the simple click.

Peter Bell from Fuse Lead Marketing (@fuselead) recently alerted me to an interesting discovery which seems to have appeared over the last few weeks in the UK.

If you are signed into one of Google’s services (LeadPoint uses Google for email) you might stumble across a new type of ad extension in the top ranked ads – namely a way for the advertiser to capture your contact information and permission to contact you without clicking through.

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Posted 17 May 2012 10:04am by Justin Rees with 4 comments

The decade of the entrepreneur is coming

The release of companies topping the Fortune 500 list proved a bright spot in today's still shaky global economy, but John Sviokla, a principal and US business leader for strategy and innovation at PricewaterhouseCoopers, believes there's much good still to anticipate. 

He spoke last week at Guardian's Activate Summit in New York. The summit attracted professionals in the publishing industry and featured such heavy hitters as media giant Arianna Huffington and Jonah Peretti, co-founder of BuzzFeed, perhaps the first true social news organization.

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Posted 09 May 2012 16:48pm by Cielo Lutino with 4 comments

The mainstreaming of content marketing: ten implications

Let's face it, content marketing has gone mainstream. That kind of sucks, really, because it used to be a hugely powerful differentiator in most markets.

Soon it will just be the price of entry. Everyone will have a rich content library, so a new eBook or video won't be enough to make you jump out from that pack of pesky competitors.

So how will the world of digital marketing change when content marketing becomes the norm for everyone?

Here are ten predicions and what you can do about them...

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Posted 25 April 2012 11:33am by Doug Kessler with 7 comments

Amazon's CTO highlights seven transformations cloud services will enable

Yesterday, we attended the Amazon Web Services Summit in New York where Dr Werner Vogels, CTO, Amazon, gave the keynote speech highlighting how cloud services will transform how we do business. 

Though some critics think cloud services may have unforeseen challenges, Vogals somewhat salesy keynote also had representatives of companies using Amazon cloud services come to the stage to say why the cloud is enabling their businesses to do things they could never do before.

As these (and most) businesses are discovering, a data revolution is taking place. The amount of information we need to process, map and store is growing at exponential rates. So in comes cloud services. 

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Posted 20 April 2012 19:22pm by Heather Taylor with 1 comment

Five ways to optimise your online video

A great video strategy can be a lot of work. Coming up with a good concept, producing the video, and editing are all vital steps in the process, but it does not end there. 

All too often, businesses will invest serious time and effort into producing great video content only to lose steam once they get the videos online. 

Your online video strategy should not end at the upload. Really great content can and often will go far on it’s own, but there many tactics that can be employed online to reach your video’s full potential.

Here are five post-upload steps you can take to ensure your video marketing strategy is a success.

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Posted 17 April 2012 09:52am by Meghan Grosso with 5 comments

Feedback fail! How too many stakeholders spoil the content...

Does your content quality take a nosedive at stakeholder signoff rounds? Here's how to avoid 'content by commitee'.

"What’s the biggest obstacle to better quality content in your organisation?" I ask at the start of each content strategy seminar. And somebody (often several somebodies) will reply, with a sigh, “stakeholders”. 

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Posted 10 April 2012 13:06pm by Catherine Toole with 0 comments

Beyond 4G: The future of wireless

In a conference room overlooking Manhattan’s Greenwich Village last week, NYU showcased research being conducted by professors from its various branches—its school of medicine, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and Polytechnic Institute—at an event titled “Beyond 4G: The Future of Wireless.”

Nine academics presented their findings on the wireless environment of today and tomorrow.

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Posted 03 April 2012 15:45pm by Cielo Lutino with 0 comments

Boehringer Ingelheim partners with Kaggle to crowdsource scientific problem

Pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim is partnering with Kaggle, the platform that uses gamification to solve complex scientific problems, to create a new model relating to molecular development.

The company wants to use knowledge from the online scientific community to create a new model that will help its scientists accurately predict the biological response of molecules.

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Posted 21 March 2012 13:47pm by Vikki Chowney with 0 comments

Walgreens adds customer service tab to Facebook

American pharmacist Walgreens has added an ‘Answers’ tab to its Facebook page, providing social customer service in relation to prescriptions and health queries.

Walgreens says that this is another example of its commitment to innovation in the digital space, and that it provides customers with greater access to pharmacists and other clinical experts.

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Posted 21 March 2012 12:29pm by David Moth with 0 comments

B2B content marketing: finding your sweet spot

In B2B content marketing, what you write about can be as important as what you write.

But there's a hell of a lot of so-called 'thought leadership' out there that isn't leading anyone's thought at all. That's because it isn't written from the company's true sphere of authority -- from the 'sweet spot'. 

If you're committed to content marketing (as I'm sure you are) it's incredibly important to think about your sweet spot and keep your content inside it.

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Posted 13 March 2012 13:00pm by Doug Kessler with 9 comments