Has Google altered its algorithm to favor its own properties in vertical search results?
Numerous publishers which now find themselves competing with the search engine they rely on for valuable traffic have accused Google of doing just that. Some in the industry have even petitioned antitrust regulators to look into the matter.
Since the rise of social media, companies have been implored to ‘listen’ to their customers. If you listen, they are told, good things will happen.
The truth, of course, is that most businesses have never been completely deaf to their customers.
Social media has simply created new ways to listen.
The internet has become so integral to our everyday lives that even the most old-fashioned items on the Christmas ‘to do’ list have now been transformed.
So it’s true that in some situations, we actually can’t live without technology, but metaphorically speaking, could you have survived Christmas without it?
Here’s my top 10 ways in which the internet changed Christmas in 2012:
Branding is both an art and a science and it’s a living, breathing discipline that’s always changing. We can’t take a class, get a degree, and sit back on our laurels and say we’re brand “experts”. Even those of us who have been successfully making a living for a long time in building and managing brands need to stay on our toes.
That’s because we live in a world where there are unprecedented changes in technology, social media and consumer macro trends, and all of these have an impact on the way we create strong brands that engage our consumers.
The good news is there has never been a more exciting time to be a digital marketer. The bad news is that it’s never been more challenging.
That’s why if you’re going to be in the game, you’ve got to play to win and commit to continual learning.
Numerous trends are discernible in the predictions made for 2013. One of the most apparent: the continued rise of big data.
What big data is, the roles it is creating and data management best practices came into focus for many businesses in 2012, but putting big data to use will likely be one of the biggest challenges facing companies in 2013.
It proved to be a fruitful Christmas for John Lewis, with like-for-like sales up 13% in the five weeks to December 29 compared to the same period in 2011.
And the news from its ecommerce store was even more impressive. Online sales grew almost three-times faster at 44.3% and now account for a quarter of all group sales.
In fact it reached more than £800m in annual sales through Johnlewis.com in December.
So how has John Lewis managed to pull off such a massive increase in online sales? Here’s a run down of some of the reasons behind its continued success…
For many companies, a native mobile app is one of the most important parts of a mobile strategy.
Unfortunately, although the costs of building native mobile apps are in many cases decreasing, building a successful mobile app is increasingly difficult.
As 2012 is officially over and we’ve now welcomed in another year, we reached out to a few industry professionals to see what their thoughts are for the year ahead. As we had so many great responses, we have made a series of posts that will come out over the month of January.
To start everything off, we’re looking at the future of mobile and what companies need to have in their strategic approaches in 2013.
I was recently asked by a client “If time and money weren’t an issue, what type of mobile development would you do? Responsive, mobile or app?”
“All three,” I replied.
“Ok… And if you could have just one?”
Most of my projects (and particularly the one in question) revolve around brand communications and loyalty programmes, here’s my running order:
2013 is here and while the global economy has been a source for concern since the global Great Recession, many believe that tech and digital-heavy markets will continue to thrive in the coming year.
That’s good news whether you’re a digital marketer, developer, designer or entrepreneur, but the devil is always in the details and it’s usually easier to capitalize on an opportunity if you can spot it early.
I’ve been on record a number of times saying that I think the EC Directives relating to cookies are fundamentally flawed. We could make a parallel with the current UK/EU Euro ‘situation’ but let’s not go there. In the UK the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has a duty to enforce these directives and, as they say, “This isn’t going away. It’s the law.”
Yesterday the ICO released its updated guidance for UK website owners. You can download the PDF from the link in the news release.
Given the tough task of interpretation, guidance and enforcement that is the ICO’s duty, I have to say that I think this document is a valiant and comprehensive effort given the task and I’d commend them for this. I would urge you to read it for the full details. It is clearly written and quite practical.
Below are some of my initial thoughts on reading this latest guidance.
What is the state of digital marketing and e-commerce in China?
I’m just back from a week long trip to Shanghai where I talked to a lot of people in the digital industry there. Following are some of my observations about how the digital marketing landscape in China compares to the West.