Tablet Computers are Here - Are you Ready?

Friday, May 27, 2011

With more than 165 million tablets expected to ship over the next two years, tablets are becoming a popular device with engaged, tech-savvy consumers.

Given this explosive growth, tablets need to be a part of your marketing strategy. So Google is now making it easy for you to target tablet devices.

We’re pleased to announce that we’re developing new targeting options to help you better connect with this audience. To give you greater control over your AdWords ads, we’re changing the way you can target tablet devices.

In the next couple of weeks, the “Networks and Devices” section of your Settings tab within your AdWords account will include a new targeting option titled “Tablets with full browsers.” While you’ve been able to specifically target Apple iPad devices in the past, the new capability will enable you to easily target your ads to the entire tablet device category. In addition, you'll be able to select more precisely the types of devices and operating systems on which your AdWords ads will show. For example, to display your ads on the Apple iPad, you’ll be able to choose “Tablets with full browsers” as your device targeting setting and “iOS” as your operating system setting. Tablet targeting will be available initially for Apple devices only, but we'll expand ad serving to other specific devices in the near future.

Once this capability is available in your account, your ads will automatically start running on tablet devices and no further action will be necessary on your part. If your campaigns were specifically targeting Apple iPad devices, you may notice an increase in impressions and costs as we include more tablets in our ad serving options. If you don't want your ads to appear on tablet devices, you’ll be able to specify this preference in your device targeting settings by following these step-by-step instructions.

Brand Marketers - Make sure your digital team, media agency, and/or SEM knows about this new feature.

Avinash Kaushik Digital Measurement Webinar - Watch Video Here!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Here's Avinash's webinar, for your viewing pleasure:

Webinar: Three Stages of Digital Marketing And Measurement - Sign Up Now!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

An Obsession with Advertising, Accountability & Awesomeness.

A guest post by Avinash Kaushik

I am so incredibly impressed with the rapid evolution of advertising and marketing possibilities around us. Offline, online, social-- there are so many things to do, and so little time (and budget!).

One of the absolute delights of online marketing (regardless of type) is the amount of accountability you can bring to your marketing budgets. How many people looked at your ad in a magazine and took action? You can measure this for your digital display ads. How many potential customers how were actively looking for cars, saw your ad on TV, and then went to your destination? You can measure this for your search ads. How often do prospects listen to your radio ads completely and then take engage with you? You can measure this for your YouTube ads.

I could keep going. It is so exciting what we can measure, regardless of the online channels we use, or the measurement tools in which we have access.

And yet, it is heartbreaking how little we bring all this awesomeness to bear upon our digital efforts. So much of our marketing is simply replicating our offline advertising online. And what is particularly heartbreaking to me, the author of two books on web analytics, is how we bring our low expectations of offline measurement to our online efforts.

So let's change this. Together.

On May 19th I am conducting a webinar that will share my point of view on three stages of digital marketing and measurement. [Sign up for the webinar here. Seats are limited!]

Here are three three phases of accountability and awesomeness...

The toddler phase: Here most of our measurement is based on simply response based metrics. This is far more accountable than other channels, but there is so much more we can do and with such little actual effort. We'll cover conversion tracking (simple one page tagged and you get so much!) and how a couple clicks get you the joy of call tracking data for your mobile search advertising campaigns.

The rebellious youth phase: CTR? Sure. CPC? No problem. CPA? Done! (If you don't know what these are we'll cover them, too!) But how about a holistic understanding of the impact on your business of all your online marketing? No, not just the one big conversion, but all the micro-conversions? This is such a delight. You develop the complete impact of your acquisition strategy and are better able to balance your marketing portfolio. Trust me, you want to do this. Every day.

The digital ninja phase: Macro and micro conversions? Check. Revenue? Yep. Economic value? When you hear OMG, know that it was created for this concept. The most glorious thing any Marketer can do, and the CMO and VP get, is a robust understanding of not just the activity (clicks, conversions et. al.), but also the value created for the business (including revenue). This is how the good get to the great (and we'll cover the approaches you can use to get there!)

So come join us on May 19th for an incredible hour and half where we’ll talk digital marketing, measurement, and strategies to kick things up a notch. And yes, bring awesomeness to everything we do.

See you there.
-Avinash

Because Data Beats Opinion: Introducing Think Insights with Google

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

It’s one of our company’s guiding principles that data beats opinion. And as such, we’ve put a lot of effort into asking some interesting questions -- How do new mothers use the Internet? When do people really start their holiday shopping? What trends typify today’s Hispanic web user? -- and answering them with concrete information.

We’re now pleased to share this knowledge at Think Insights with Google, the website where we’ll be publishing our learnings and insights about digital marketing trends. From papers to case studies to videos, Think Insights' content represents the on-going work we’re doing to better understand how web users are embracing new media platforms, and how marketers are adapting to this changing terrain. We’ll be updating this site frequently, so if you'd like to keep up with our latest news, sign up here for your monthly Think Insights fix.

Enjoy and happy data-diving,

The Think Insights Team
www.google.com/think/insights