Developing flexibility and agility in digital marketing: Five trends to explore

Recent headlines have shown how necessary dexterity and flexibility can be to dealing with business uncertainty. That lesson is incredibly relevant for professionals handling digital marketing efforts. After all, a campaign devised only a few months ago can come off as insensitive or in poor taste depending on the current environment. At the same time, having processes in place to change campaigns as necessary (whether you need to adjust tone, budget, or flighting) is of the utmost...

How to drive media buying ROI through an integrated platform

When you buy a new car, all of the essential features are already built in. You don’t need to drive around from vendor to vendor to have your stereo, cruise control, power windows, and air conditioning installed. That would be a nightmare — and so would the ongoing maintenance of those features. You’d have to juggle several different contracts and develop relationships with each individual manufacturer.

Unfortunately, unlike car buying, digital media buying has long...

Why marketers need to see beyond click-through-rate

(c)iStock/Geber86

Using click-through rate (CTR) as your primary digital campaign metric is like using snake oil as your primary medicine. It might make you feel good at first, but it’s not going to cure anything.

This metric is — at best — misleading and — at worst — fraudulent. 

The unfortunate difference between snake oil and CTR: Modern medicine has eradicated snake oil. Sadly, even in the face of more reliable metrics, CTR lives on...