Blog : mobile app marketing

The Art of Hyper-Personalization: How AI Elevates Customer Experience
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The Art of Hyper-Personalization: How AI Elevates Customer Experience

The business landscape is continually evolving, demanding companies to be innovative and customer-centric to maintain a competitive edge. One of the most potent strategies for achieving this is through hyper-personalization, an art that AI has mastered to perfection.

Hyper-personalization involves leveraging customer data to create highly tailored experiences. By mining and analyzing data from various sources, businesses can deliver personalized content, products, and services that resonate with individual customers. AI plays a crucial role in this process, enabling companies to harness vast amounts of customer data effectively.

Understanding Hyper-Personalization

Thanks to advancements in big data and machine learning, companies can now gather and process copious amounts of data, providing valuable insights into their customers’ preferences. When coupled with AI capabilities, businesses can craft hyper-personalized experiences that feel tailor-made for each individual.

The Benefits of Hyper-Personalization

Hyper-personalization goes beyond improving customer experience; it fosters loyalty and trust. By creating an emotional connection through personalized interactions, customers are more likely to remain loyal to the brand. Furthermore, targeted marketing campaigns built on AI predictions can enhance brand awareness through positive word-of-mouth.

The Power of Hyper-Personalization

The potential of hyper-personalization is immense, but it requires businesses to invest in data analytics and AI-powered tools to reap the benefits fully. As AI continues to evolve, its capabilities in delivering hyper-personalization will only grow. Therefore, it is crucial for companies to stay ahead of the curve by embracing AI’s potential and integrating it into their strategies.

Incorporating AI-powered hyper-personalization can revolutionize the way businesses interact with customers and create long-lasting connections. By utilizing customer data effectively, companies can deliver experiences that stand out in today’s competitive market. Embracing AI-driven hyper-personalization is not just an option; it’s a necessity for businesses looking to thrive in the dynamic world of tomorrow. 

If you’re ready to take your marketing strategies to the next level, contact Colure Media, a leading NYC branding and digital advertising agency. Whether you need assistance with social media marketing, influencer marketing, or building your next mobile app project, our expert marketing consulting services are here to elevate your brand in the bustling landscape of New York.

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Unveiling the Insights: Understanding Costs and Calculations in Marketing Agencies

Marketing agencies have become indispensable partners for businesses seeking to elevate their brand, boost website traffic, and drive revenue growth. In the digital era, where consumers reside predominantly online, the role of marketing agencies has gained even more prominence. While partnering with a marketing agency entails an investment, when executed effectively, it can yield substantial returns. In this article, we delve into the intricacies of marketing agency costs, spending, and offer valuable tips for calculating your marketing expenses.

Understanding Costs and Calculations in Marketing Agencies

Defining a Marketing Agency

A marketing agency is a versatile entity that provides a wide array of services aimed at assisting businesses in promoting their products, services, or brand. These services encompass an array of tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, email marketing, video marketing, content marketing, and web design and development. The ultimate goal is to enable businesses to reach their target audience, enhance website traffic, augment brand awareness, and drive tangible sales and revenue growth.

Exploring the Diverse Agency Landscape

Marketing agencies manifest in various forms, each possessing unique strengths and services. Some agencies specialize in specific domains, such as social media marketing or SEO, while others offer comprehensive marketing suites. Choosing an agency that aligns with your business goals and industry experience is of paramount importance.

Understanding the Agency Workflow

Marketing agencies typically engage with businesses on a project or retainer basis. Initially, they invest time in comprehending your business, existing marketing strategies, and objectives. Subsequently, they tailor a personalized marketing plan with specific tactics and timelines.

Once the plan is in motion, agencies implement the outlined tactics, such as launching a new website, curating engaging social media content, or executing an email marketing campaign. Throughout the process, agencies meticulously monitor and analyze campaign performance, making adjustments to achieve the desired outcomes.

Deciphering the Optimal Marketing Budget

The ideal marketing expenditure varies based on industry, business size, and marketing goals. As a general guideline, businesses should allocate around 7-8% of their revenue towards marketing. However, businesses aiming for rapid growth or in the initial stages may require an increased marketing spend to achieve their objectives effectively.

Deconstructing Marketing Agency Costs

Marketing agency costs encompass a broad spectrum and depend on the project’s scope and required services. Agencies commonly adopt pricing models such as hourly rates, monthly retainers, or project-based fees. Hourly rates can range from $100 to $300 or more, contingent on the agency’s expertise and location. Monthly retainers typically start from a few thousand dollars and can extend into tens of thousands, depending on campaign complexity and service levels.

Calculating Your Marketing Costs

To calculate your marketing costs accurately, identify your marketing goals and specific tactics necessary to achieve them. Research agencies aligned with your requirements, requesting quotes or proposals that consider factors like expertise, track record, industry experience, and level of service. While cost is essential, consider the agency’s understanding of your industry, past successes, and ability to provide tailored strategic insights and creative solutions.

Investing in Success

Partnering with a marketing agency represents a sound investment in your business’s growth and triumph. By entrusting your marketing endeavors to seasoned professionals, you tap into their expertise, skills, and industry insights to generate substantial outcomes. It is vital to carefully assess your goals, budget, and agency proficiency to ensure a fruitful partnership.

Concluding Thoughts

Marketing agencies serve as pivotal catalysts for business success in the fiercely competitive digital landscape. By grasping the intricacies of marketing agency costs and spending, you can make informed decisions and craft effective marketing strategies. Whether you are contemplating your first agency partnership or reassessing existing collaborations, meticulous consideration of your objectives, budget, and the agency’s expertise will pave the way for substantial returns and long-term triumph.

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The Ins and Outs of a Go-To Marketing Campaign

One of the most important things to understand about any disruptive marketing event is that they tend to happen when you least expect them.

Take the Robinhood app, for example. Few mobile app aficionados could have predicted the type of press it would get when a group of amateur Reddit investors used it to upend the stock market, but here we are. Obviously, when you construct your campaign, you want to make an impression. But what you really want to do is change the way people think about products and services like yours.

That level of disruption doesn’t come easy, but it is very much within reach. All you have to do when building your own go-to marketing campaign is keep a few key things in mind.

Building Better Marketing: An Overview

By far, the most important step to take when constructing your disruptive, go-to marketing campaign involves not only understanding who your audience is, but where they hang out online.

Forget about trying to craft a message that will appeal to everyone equally. Not only is it largely impossible (try getting a Baby Boomer and a Gen Xer to agree on just about anything and see how it goes), but it’s also pointless. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend money getting your digital marketing collateral in front of the eyes of people who aren’t likely to become one of your customers in the first place.

Therefore, you’ll need to go a fair bit deeper. Who are these people? Where do they live? How much money do they make? What do they like and what do they absolutely hate? You’ll want to answer questions like these before you sit down and even think about coming up with that next great ad.

Then, you’ll need to find out where the majority of these people spend their time online. If they’re older, they’re probably entrenched in the Facebook ecosystem. If they’re younger, they probably spend a lot of time scrolling through Twitter, Snapchat, or even TikTok. Understand which channels they use and take the message directly to them. Don’t assume that they’ll find you.

Part of the reason why it’s so important to understand as much as you can about your audience is because a successful digital marketing campaign depends on high quality, relevant content to thrive. People don’t want to be “sold to” any longer. They don’t have time for it. You can’t turn on your computer or pick up your phone without getting bombarded from every direction by ad after ad.

Because of that, people have gotten really good at tuning that kind of thing out – meaning that you’ll have to find a way to cut through the noise and make your presence known.

These days, that involves things like blog posts and videos that people actually want to read and watch. Make a list of relevant topics and start creating content around them. Is there a breaking news story in your industry that people keep getting wrong that you can shed some light on? Is there a common myth or misconception that you can shatter? These are the types of areas that you should be focusing on.

Beyond that, always make sure that you’re measuring the results of your campaigns for maximum impact. Digital marketing success is all about continuous improvement and you can’t improve upon that which you aren’t measuring. Pay attention to key performance indicators like conversion rates and engagement. Anything that you try that works really well, you should be doubling down on whenever you have the opportunity to do so. Anything that you try that doesn’t work you should kick to the curb and try something else.

In the end, every marketing campaign should be unique unto itself – but that obviously doesn’t mean that there isn’t a solid framework that you’ll be able to follow. By keeping things like these in mind when constructing your own marketing campaigns, you’ll be able to reach the right people at the perfect moment, increasing your chances of turning them from a casual observer to a loyal customer along the way. 

Mobile App Marketing With Indexing & Deep-linking
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Mobile App Marketing With Indexing & Deep-linking

Mobile search has been transformed from a simple search of the Internet’s content to an index that includes downloadable mobile applications into the results. The evolution is called mobile app indexing. Although Google introduced app indexing in 2013, businesses are only now realizing the advantages it produces. The benefits of app indexing do not only pertain to businesses, but to the entire marketplace, especially mobile users. As the awareness and understanding of app indexing increases, the installation of apps by businesses and users will skyrocket.

In prior years, the results of a Google search (via a mobile device) would primarily be a list of recommended website links. Due to the introduction of app indexing, the results will now include suggested applications pertaining to the search terms. Just as users can click on and connect to a web page link, users can also launch the app directly from the results page if that app has been installed on the device prior to the search. However, if the app is not downloaded onto the device, there will be an option to install the app to receive the desired content. This addition opens up a whole new and innovative way of mobile searching.

If your business does not have an app, it may be smart to adopt one, if you have a valid need. If your business does have an app, make indexing a priority. Since the majority of businesses have not yet adopted app indexing, this act will immediately set you apart from the competition. Now is the best time to take advantage of the numerous opportunities and benefits mobile app indexing will generate for your business. Advantages of app indexing include an increase in customer loyalty, app installations, and user traffic. Additionally, your business will become more visible to the eye of the user through the presence of the app on the results page.

For mobile users, app indexing has created an improved and advanced search experience. The indexing of both websites and apps broadens search results. The expansion of search potential will result in an increase in the amount of useful information that can be utilized by the mobile user. Not only a development in marketing for businesses, app indexing is also a way for mobile users to access information more effectively and efficiently. To help you define your mobile app indexing experience, contact Colure’s project management team. 

Vital customer engagement (or how not to leave your customers at the door)
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Vital customer engagement (or how not to leave your customers at the door)

Customer engagement (CE) is the living and breathing relationship that exists between a customer and a company. This critical relationship is a critical factor that helps to determine the success or failure of a company. The challenge to every business is that almost all buyers have different needs and wants. Consumers aren’t unanimous, even within similar demographics. There are different ages, lifestyles, ethnic backgrounds, etc. There’s an excellent chance that the motivating factors for one middle-aged customer may differ significantly from another. It’s incredibly important for a business to operate with their customer base as individuals.

So how do we go about the act of engaging a client? Here’s a few starting points to orient your mobile app marketing and digital advertising efforts:

  • An engagement marketing strategy is crucial. How will your company reach out to potential customers? How will you respond to their inquiries? Detailed analytics are necessary to help answer these questions. Actively learning about a customer’s lifestyles, rather than lumping people together based on a singular demographic. Remember, numbers are cold, your customers are real people. Think of them in that fashion. The more accurate and detailed your customer database is, the stronger foundation you will have for engagement.
  • Learn to predict consumer behavior. When looking at the unique lifestyle of your consumers, where can you see areas where they can benefit from your service or product? Big-box retailers like Walmart and Target do so by using data mining to notice trends in purchases. Walmart used data mining and discovered that Strawberry Pop-tart sales increased sevenfold before a hurricane in southern states. The reaction? Place Strawberry Pop-tarts at the cashier area of a store. More exposure to the pop-tarts increases sales even more. In the end, all parties benefit. Walmart and Kellogg’s experience increased sales, while customers have an emergency food source in case of natural disasters.
  • The benefits of customer engagement are limitless. Customer retention is critical. Customers can see the value in a company that puts the effort into satisfying their customer base. Satisfied clients can be the most powerful form of marketing. The family and friends of current customers are potential future customers. Nothing is more valuable than a recommendation from peer-to-peer. One survey even concluded that 92% of customers trust peer recommendations, compared to 47% trusting TV or magazine ads.

Customer engagement is beneficial, if not necessary, to a company’s success. Perhaps one of the most satisfying aspects of customer engagement is the company-client relationships built upon it. Increasing interaction cultivates and grows these relationships. Knowing that your company makes a positive difference in the life of your customers is a huge reward.

If you are interested in exploring various marketing possibilities for your business, Contact us now.

MAUs: Monthly Active Users vs Driving Downloads
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MAUs: Monthly Active Users vs Driving Downloads

Business Basics

Online businesses need to identify their customer base to understand the relationship between themselves and their clients. How do companies measure success? Why do businesses keep track of their performance? How often should companies even keep track of certain information? These are questions critical to a business’ survival. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) allow companies to measure almost every facet of their respective businesses interactions. With this data, they can understand their performance relative to the marketplace.

For some companies and mobile apps driving app downloads is the KPI but for those companies that operate solely digitally, a central KPI measurement is the Monthly Active Users (MAU). A standard definition of the MAU is defined as the number of “unique” users over the course of 30 days. This performance indicator is commonly used by social networking sites, digital gaming platforms, e-commerce businesses, and mobile apps. MAU measurement allows digital services to know who is using their product and how they use that product.

An active user is not just a person that may randomly access a site/service. An active user is determined as an individual who has created an account through email or username to access a site or service.

There are also two types of active users. There are first time users and recurring users:

  • A first time user is a new user who has accessed a site for the first time.
  • A recurring user is a user that frequents the site. It is important to clarify data to this extent when you are trying to track performance.

Ultimately it is up to the site or service to distinguish who they believe is an active user. Traditional social networking services like Facebook and Twitter have both have differing definitions:

  • Facebook defines a Monthly Active User as anyone that is a registered Facebook user, who has accessed the service through the website, messenger app, or mobile app at least one time in the last 30 days.
  • Twitter employs a slightly more complicated approach than its competitor. You must follow a minimum of 30 accounts and be followed by a third of the number of accounts you follow to be considered an active user. To put that in simpler terms, if you are a registered user who follows 30 accounts, with at least ten followers, and uses the site at least one time in 30 days, you are considered an active Twitter user.

It is crucial to measure user activity on digital platforms when examining performance, especially with mobile app marketing. Calculating the metrics of Monthly Active User data is a practical industry practice. The proper manipulation of this data will help companies find the information they need to succeed.

If you need help tracking your audience’s habits, contact Colure.

Click-through rates
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Click-through rates

Click-Through Rates (CTR) are one of the most important pieces of data for measuring the success of your advertisements, but it can be confusing to interpret the numbers and apply them appropriately to your mobile app marketing and advertising campaign. Here’s a breakdown of what a CTR is and how you can maximize its use:

What is a click-through rate?

A CTR is the number of clicks that a pay-per-click (PPC) advertisement gets for every number of impressions (views). In essence, it tells you how many times your advertisement is viewed before someone clicks on it.

Why do click-through rates matter?

A higher CTR ultimately leads to lower costs for advertising. Google and other search engine platforms commonly offer lower prices for ads that offer a higher relevance to search engine users. Google, for example, determines the cost based on your Quality Score. The higher your quality score, the less you have to pay for a PPC advertisement.

How do click-through rates work?

What makes a CTR “good” really depends on your industry and the ad’s position, but overall, Google AdWords has an average CTR of 1.91% for search network and 0.35% for display network. With this in mind, your CTR should be as high as possible while still maintaining relevance.

How can I increase my click-through rate?

  • Use targeted keywords. If a keyword isn’t relevant to your business, it could end up costing more money than it’s worth because your ad is leading to click-throughs but not conversions.
  • Use visual content. Images and video boost engagement. In fact, research shows that using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts click-through rates by 65%.
  • Offer freebies. Consumers love free stuff, so promoting an offer like a significant discount off the price of a product is likely to increase CTR.

Click-through rates are used as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI), used to evaluate performance against the market competition. It allows for an apples-to-apples comparison. Numbers can be tricky sometimes. To understand those numbers, it’s important to see your company’s marketplace performance from another angle.

Colure Media is New yok based advertising and digital marketing agency. We can help your business to grow and increase your websites CTR. If you want to discuss your business marketing and advertsing needs and budget, then contact us Now.

Push notifications, how they drive engagement in mobile apps
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Push notifications, how they drive engagement in mobile apps

An ever-growing mobile audience is challenging the mechanisms needed for marketers to interact with the audience’s fluid movement. Desktop Marketing finds itself struggling to keep up with the quick pace and instantaneous engagement on mobile devices. Despite the statistic that desktop still accounts for 42% of internet time. Web push notifications, also known as browser push notifications, are a new channel of marketing that brings the personalization of the mobile medium to the desktop.

Web push notifications are pop-up messages from a website that, when clicked, send the user to a specific link (for example, a new blog post). They’re not the same thing as web notifications, which are active only on an open web page. Instead, web push acts much like mobile application notifications, which are initiated only when the user gives permission to receive them. After the user gives permission, the company can send push notifications at any time, even if the website isn’t open in the browser.

A clean example of this is when a newspaper can notify its readers about the content of the most recently posted story. This immediate interaction helps to provide additional context to the story at hand.

Unlike the more common medium of email marketing, web push allows websites to engage users without having their contact information. Users are more likely to opt-in to the push notifications because they’re generally less invasive and make it easier to unsubscribe. Research has shown that less than 10% of users who opt-in for web push notifications unsubscribe within a year. This is despite the ease of opting out.

These are not the only benefits to using web push notifications:

  • Web push notifications deliver immediately to users, eliminating the possibility of being sent to a spam folder, like email.
  • Web push notifications have conversion rates 30 times that of email.
  • Push notifications are less content-heavy (generally between 40-120 characters) and better appeal to the shortened attention span of the consumer audience.
  • Web push offers the benefit of mobile app push notifications without investing money in developing an app.

Web push is supported by Safari 7.0.3, Chrome 42, and Mozilla Firefox. The channel continues to grow, pushing email marketing to the wayside and offering companies a more direct and concise avenue of communication with consumers. While there is yet to be much research on the direct success rate of websites using web push notifications, it is expected that it will be close to that of push notifications in mobile apps, which boost engagement by a notable 88%.

Web push notifications allow for a low-profile and noninvasive way to communicate with customers. Its low cost makes it a great investment for small and medium-sized businesses, so we can expect it to be on the uprise within the coming years.

Explore a mobile app “Test Market Campaign”
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Explore a mobile app “Test Market Campaign”

The development of a mobile application is a significant event for any corporation, team, or individual. As the app approaches its final stages of development, there is a tremendous temptation to rush that nifty new mobile application directly into the hands of consumers. Before that action, the product owner should ask one critical question: “Are we ready?”

A critical path to confirm the app’s market viability is to conduct a test market campaign. Establishing reliable numbers allows the development team to understand what is functional and what is lacking. A market analysis provides insight to what you don’t know about the marketplace.

Within the test market campaign, individual goals should be established on a timeline, and if those goals aren’t met, the company needs to be prepared to go back to the drawing board. An active test marketing campaign will answer many new questions, some of the benefits include the following:

  1. Seeing if the product/service is viable in the real world
  2. Analyzing if the marketing strategy needs a revamp
  3. Measure how consumers will respond to the product/service
  4. Gain feedback from customers before product launch

Overall, conducting a test market campaign before launching a major media buy and mobile advertising campaign is beneficial to the company. It can help to work out the minor (and sometimes major) details of the product/service. A major advantage is that it provides the product owner with insight into the relationship between the market and the product. It lets the consumer be a part of the overall process of creating something new, and that is good for business.

A test market campaign would be wise to use in this situation if time and money permit the organization to do so. The test marketing can be used to tweak the final product or modify how to market it better to the public.

Jumping into major campaign without a marketplace analysis is like jumping into a puddle of muddy water. You have no idea how deep the water may be or if there is broken glass just under the waterline. In short, it can be a terrible decision. Before you risk the fruit of your labours, take the time to investigate the viability of the marketplace.

What is a mobile application “cost per install”?
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What is a mobile application “cost per install”?

Mobile apps are a critical component of our everyday lives. They affect our interaction with almost everything and everyone. Our actions often revolve around some type of mobile application. As companies maneuver to create new apps, they have to decide what is the most cost-efficient manner to market their application.

One question that surfaces is “which is the best way to measure the client acquisition and marketing costs for our mobile application?” One of such method of measurement called “Cost Per Install” (CPI).

The Cost Per Install model measures the net cost to the application developer for each download of their application to a single user. In other words – how much does it cost to deliver a single copy of an application to a single consumer. Media companies such as Facebook and Twitter, for example, might advertise your shiny, new, mobile app on their high traffic sites and garner countless numbers of clicks and impressions. With CPI, your advertising budget pays only when a user actually downloads and installs the application – not for the volume of click traffic on your advertisement (or Cost Per Click – CPC). Therefore, the more installs the advertisers gain for your app, the net cost per download to the application developer is reduced, thus creating greater profits. By using this method, it guarantees that you, as a client, pay for only as much as your campaign is actually producing. The downside is that your user loyalty or activeness volume is not accurately documented. This measurement is calculated through Cost Per Loyal User (CPLU).

In late 2015, Twitter introduced Cost Per Install as part of two models for clients to advertise on their platform for mobile downloads. According to their beta partners, the CPI model presents the highest cost efficiency – lowering the cost for advertising by nearly 30% compared to its previous model of Cost Per Click (CPC).

According to Fiksu’s Cost Per Install (CPI)Index for November 2015, it measures the cost per app install due directly to its advertising to cost approximately $1.54 for iOS acquired users and $2.27 for Android acquired users.

As business owners, ideal conditions would call for acquiring the highest amount of quality users with expenses that would maximize their Return on Investment (ROI).

At Colure Media, a mobile app marketing firm based in New York City, we structure advertising campaigns that would guarantee downloads, lowering your cost per install and increasing your mobile app users. Contact our campaign advisors to discuss your operating costs for your next project.

Create a dynamic marketing plan
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Create a dynamic marketing plan

Every business needs a marketing plan. Businesses rely on sales and customers. These commodities cannot be generated without an effective marketing campaign that effectively communicates the company, product, and message. Though many businesses are well aware of the need for a strategic marketing plan, not all of them understand exactly how to implement one.

A marketing plan can include all of the following and much more: content development, emails and newsletters, market research and data analysis, SEO, social media management, sponsorships, website development, and mobile app marketing. While it is possible for a business owner to create, manage, and maintain a marketing plan alone, it takes a considerable amount of time and patience.

The ‘Do It Yourself’ approach

Owners thinking of a DIY approach should realistically calculate how much effort they can spare. For those undeterred by the tasks ahead, willing to tackle this challenge, below are three cheap and effective steps towards better results.

    • Do your homework: Research is key. Understand the market you are targeting and decide on your company’s message. Analyze competitors for blind spots and opportunities to shine. Don’t compete in areas they’re good—find your niche.

    • Email is big, cheap and often provides the highest ROI: It is also a preferred method of communication by customers.

    • Your website matters: Make sure it has a responive build that operates on different platforms. Streamline the online experience. 81% of consumers use online to explore their options beforehand and gather information about purchases. Don’t give them a reason to be disappointed.

Hiring an individual or an advertising agency

Perhaps the amount of work ahead is too daunting, or perhaps you might not have the time to invest in creating something polished that best represents your company. While the immediate idea you might have is to hire an employee in charge of marketing operations, you’ll be surprised to realize that, in the long run, hiring a person could be more expensive than hiring an agency. Employees have more costs than salary once you include training costs, taxes, insurance, and the software needed. Excluding price, advertising agencies have other benefits, most notably:

    • Expertise: both in the niche market you’re seeking and in the types of marketing you might require whether that be mobile marketing or marketing online.
    • Experience: with creating and executing plans and consulting businesses.
    • Efficiency: a marketing agency does not require training. They can start often times immediately and implement a plan of action urgently.

Working with a marketer requires trust and a willingness to try new things. Communication is crucial to keep both sides on the same page. Both parties must have an understanding of the other party. You should discuss the roles each party with play in the process. Advertising agencies make life easier by freeing you up to focus on what you do best – running our own company. Regardless, they still rely on you for information and the materials needed to create the campaign, so there is no easy shortcut when it comes to marketing your business. The tools for success are out there at your disposal, but the drive ultimately comes from you.

Reach out to Colure Media’s development team to discuss a plan to advance your next project.

Projected advertising revenue trends for 2016 – TV vs. Digital
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Projected advertising revenue trends for 2016 – TV vs. Digital

As new types of mobile devices are introduced, digital advertising and mobile app marketing are projected top television advertising trends and revenue in 2016. Previous advertising trends are becoming mundane as new kinds of technology are introduced to the public. Smart watches and virtual reality goggles have made their way into the mainstream. Users of all demographics are excited about them. Shifting mediums equate to shifting advertising markets.

The way in which information is delivered will be a driving force for the future of digital advertising. Device users are devouring both the flexibility and the speed at which information is provided. The choice of format and flexibility is driving users to change their buying habits.

Millennials

Millennials, also know as Gen Y’s, will shift advertising trends more towards digital than television. Prior generations had to park themselves in front of the tube to get their fair share of publicity. Millennials are taking those mobile ads everywhere, in every format. Marketers need to move their ads to where their audiences are going. Millennials like to be involved in a brand and a product. Advertising agencies can use this type of behavior to their advantage. “Millennials want their agencies to stand for something more than pushing products on consumers.”

Predictions

Forecasting trends and predictions are showing digital advertising surpassing television advertising. “Digital media will continue its meteoric rise. Digital ad spending will grow 17.2 percent this year, to nearly $160 billion, and 13.5 percent in 2016, and is expected to overtake TV as the biggest advertising category by the end of 2017,” according to Sydney Ember of the New York Times. One reason for this is how often an individual uses their mobile device. Advertising companies have taken full advantage of habits of consumers by engaging them where they spend most of their attention.

New Mobile Devices

Smart watches and virtual reality goggles are two of the new mobile devices to make their debut in the market recently. For something as small as a smart watch, advertising companies have taken advantage of it. “Smart watches advertisers grab consumers’ attention immediately, no matter what they are doing.” Even though it is a small space, advertising companies have utilized the space to their benefit. They have the ability to keep their brand/image fresh in the consumers’ mind by being able to consistently display ads on the smart watch. Companies will have to discover the users’ boundaries, learning to not overly advertise and annoy a consumer. Even though the medium is ready and available, doesn’t mean it should be overused. Be engaging, but not bothersome.

A new mobile “toy” debuting this year is the “virtual reality goggles.” These goggles attach to most smartphones and allow for a virtual world to be seen through the goggles. What is expected to rise out of the virtual reality world is a new evolution of video ads. Even though video ads are not new, many still think of them as time-consuming and irrelevant. However, Google is incorporating video-based advertisements in their SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), rather than just pictures and text. By doing this, consumers are more susceptible to accepting video ads. Eventually, those ads will be second nature to users, not perceived as the annoyance they may be viewed as today.

2016 is proving to be a very exciting year for digital advertising. Millennials have set the stage for mobile advertising and will continue to do so for years to come. They want to be involved in the ‘life-cycle’ of a brand. Millennials want to be engaging with companies. This generation will lead the direction of new trends in digital advertising. As new mobile devices introduced, they will become a gateway to how mobile advertising will surpass television advertising. We will just have to wait and see how virtual reality and smart watch advertising will affect the future.

Advertising Budgets 2016: 4 Trends You Need To Know [Infographic]
Infographic by MDG Advertising