While many media and marketing professionals lament how technology has made life more difficult, there is a case to be made for how tech can actually help save these industries (we’re certainly hoping so, – ed.).
Earlier this month, BetaKit hosted a Twitter chat with StackAdapt, inviting other industry leaders to discuss whether tech could truly save media and marketing. Erin Bury, managing director at 88 Creative, Jerrid Grimm, co-founder of Pressboard Media, Jeff Brenner, co-founder at Pressly, and Jodi Brown, director at MediaCom Canada, joined StackAdapt co-founder Vitaly Pecherskiy to discuss monetization, the competitive attention economy, and emerging tech for marketing and media.
Here’s the best of what they had to say. Enjoy!
The biggest problems facing brands trying to share their message
A1: Getting right msg , in right format, seen at right stage of buying cycle to maximize its contribution on path to purchase #BKchats
— Jodi Brown (@luckyjodi) December 3, 2015
A1: Clutter, decline of organic reach, banner blindness and now adblockers #BKchats
— Pressboard (@Pressboard) December 3, 2015
A1: Finding an authentic way to meaningful engage and provide value to their audience #BKchats
— Pressly (@Pressly) December 3, 2015
A1: A cluttered advertising landscape & consumers who have learned to tune out/avoid ads. @BetaKit #BKchats
— Erin Bury (@erinbury) December 3, 2015
A1: Brands rely heavily on #social for distribution. Too much content is being shared, so organic reach has dropped significantly. #BKchats
— StackAdapt (@StackAdapt) December 3, 2015
The biggest problems online publishers face in driving revenue from ads
A2: Publishers can't make enough from display ads unless they have huge traffic numbers. So finding creative ways to drive $$. #BKchats
— Erin Bury (@erinbury) December 3, 2015
A2: Publishers are too focused on pumping out a lot of content and generating a lot of views rather than producing quality content. #BKchats
— StackAdapt (@StackAdapt) December 3, 2015
.@StackAdapt No one's sharing poor content. yes valuable content is only way to break through. with attention to timing & format #BKchats
— Jodi Brown (@luckyjodi) December 3, 2015
Do brands have all the tech they need, or is there something missing?
A6: The challenge isn’t technical, it’s the business model. (1/2) #BKchats
— Pressboard (@Pressboard) December 3, 2015
A6: A lot of brands and publishers don’t have the support they need to implement the right tech (2/2) #BKchats
— Pressboard (@Pressboard) December 3, 2015
A6 Sadly there's no marketing silver bullet. Brands need to leverage many tools, but we can expect more consolidation in 2016. #BKchats
— StackAdapt (@StackAdapt) December 3, 2015
On whether publishers should give up trying to get readers to pay for content
A7: Consumers will only pay for content if they don’t have a comparable alternative for free, which in most cases, they do. #BKchats
— Jodi Brown (@luckyjodi) December 3, 2015
A7: 21st Century is one where people decided media should be free. So someone else has to pay. #BKchats https://t.co/krfMLqT8S7
— Douglas Tr0n Soltys (@tron) December 3, 2015
Why some brands still don’t see the value of content
Q9: Traditional KPIs for their advertising dollars, such as CTRs and impressions, instead of engagement time and reads #BKchats
— Pressboard (@Pressboard) December 3, 2015
A9: Because investing time, money, and resources into creating awesome content is not a priority for some brands. #BKchats
— Erin Bury (@erinbury) December 3, 2015
A9 They underestimate content as they don't see immediate ROI. In reality, content is long-lasting & drives great long-term results #BKchats
— StackAdapt (@StackAdapt) December 3, 2015
Are adblockers or low CTRs scarier for brands?
Counter: people email us all the time that our site isn't working when it's their ad blocker breaking it. #BKchats https://t.co/meERc5VT4W
— Douglas Tr0n Soltys (@tron) December 3, 2015
Q3: Ad blockers. Low CTRs aren’t an issue for campaigns w/awareness goals but ad blockers kill all revenue potential of inventory #BKchats
— Jodi Brown (@luckyjodi) December 3, 2015
A3: There is still awareness value for display ads that aren't clicked. No value if that is blocked. #BKchats
— Pressly (@Pressly) December 3, 2015
How to describe native advertising for the average journalist
A4: Content that will provide value to a brand’s audience, delivered in a way that is seamless with the platform it’s displayed on #BKchats
— Pressly (@Pressly) December 3, 2015
A4: Basic: sponsored content in relevant contextual environment delivered thru content drivers w/same look & feel as editorial #BKchats
— Jodi Brown (@luckyjodi) December 3, 2015
A4: Sponsored content is a form of #nativeadvertising. It's the organic integration of branded content into a user's experience. #BKchats
— StackAdapt (@StackAdapt) December 3, 2015
Finally, what media and marketing will look like in 2016
A10: Whatever it will look like I bet we’ll all be viewing it in 360 VR! #BKchats
— Jodi Brown (@luckyjodi) December 3, 2015
A10: It’s going to be the year of mobile…for the 7th consecutive year #BKchats https://t.co/h2saQZ7day
— Pressboard (@Pressboard) December 3, 2015