Category Archives: Marketing

More on Ads.txt

Print out a page with your ad on it. Put it on the whiteboard and give your buying team a marker and ask them to draw out exactly how that particular ad showed up on that particular website and why. By that, I mean all the names of the ad tech and martech players involved. No looking anything up. Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Wednesday, 19 July 2017 12:41 pm by | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Before You Worry About Match Rates…

Posted on Wednesday, 19 July 2017 9:12 am by

But before you get bogged down in match rate discussions, the more important strategic work needs to have been done up front. Never delve into tactics without understanding the mission and the strategy to accomplish the mission. Continue reading →

Posted in digital marketing, Direct Response, Marketing, Media, Strategy, Tactics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nobody’s Talking About This ads.txt Problem

Posted on Monday, 10 July 2017 9:16 am by

As a media buyer, I find myself scratching my head about the IAB’s ads.txt initiative. It’s a good thing, of course. Knowing that somebody selling advertising inventory to you is actually authorized to sell that impression to you is important. … Continue reading →

Posted in Marketing, Media, planning | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Your Mission and Vision are Lousy

Posted on Friday, 30 June 2017 7:40 am by

I was talking about company mission and vision statements with Paresh Shah, a good and smart friend of mine. During the discussion, he gave me a simple rule to see if your mission was good or not: “Write out the … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Marketing, Philosophy, Product Development, Strategy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Worst Ad Ever?

Posted on Tuesday, 27 June 2017 9:13 am by

Who writes an ad without a headline? David Ogilvy said that when you have written your headline, you have spent 75% of your money. Continue reading →

Posted in Direct Response, Marketing, Tactics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Decent Direct Mail

Posted on Tuesday, 13 June 2017 7:20 am by

Every once in a while you get direct response that’s properly targeted. It restores my faith in humanity, even if the direct mail piece isn’t technically the best I’ve ever seen. Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Direct Response, Marketing, Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Thought Experiment: Lobby Ads

Imagine this: A set of large screens in your corporate lobby running, in real time and randomly, the actual digital ads you are running on the pages the ads are being displayed on. A viewer would also be able to stop … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Wednesday, 31 May 2017 11:59 am by | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Automation and Digital Marketing

Why are digital marketing vendors so obsessed with automating the processes involved in advertising? Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Monday, 22 May 2017 12:25 pm by | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Ad Exchange Rules of Thumb

Working with ad exchanges? Do these things. Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Thursday, 11 May 2017 9:00 am by | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Fake News Root Cause: Digital Advertisers

Posted on Wednesday, 10 May 2017 9:32 am by

Somewhere in our rush to use digital media, we got obsessed with reach and the size of audiences (the magic word again) and impressions. We got taken for a ride by the ad tech industry hucksters, who built an almost-perfect money-making machine on top of fake inventory created on phony websites. Continue reading →

Posted in fraud, Leadership, Marketing, Philosophy, Rants | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment