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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
April 9, 2015 1:48 PM
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Marty Note Adwords is crowded, fast and dangerous these days.
When I was an Ecommerce Director we made the decision to give our $1M in PPC spend to the robots. Robots, business rules and predicitve analytics was the only way we could make what little money we made from PPC.
Attribution is a BITCH.
I remember our CFO saying, "Cut spend on everything above this line, " pointing to every branded term we were buying. Cut the top of the funnel off and you lose the bottom of the funnel. Trying to explain that to a web doubter was impossible so I ignored the demand.
Instead we tested or ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). $6 to $1 ROAS looked great...at first. As time went on we realized tighten the valve that tight cut our email list growth and the LTV (Lifetime Value) it produced in dangerous ways.
Next we tested at $1 to $1 and bleed red ink. At the time I worked for Direct Marketers (DMers) who don't believe in losing money...ever. The complex attribution math meant we were probably making solid return IF attribution was fully valued and agreed upon.
It was not. Attribution was controversial and the more immediate, the more Stimulus to Response it was the more my bosses liked it. The idea that three generations ago we built a PPC campaign that grew our list 15% and thus made us $3 To $1 was a bridge too far.
That is why I wanted to bring Marin into the mix. Marin is the best self tuning / business rule based PPC DIY Algorithm we could find. No Sale since adding Marin's "costs" seemed to lower ROAS. Once again full attribution would show Marin was going to pay for itself in no time, but didn't make that sale either.
Today's PPC market is an order of magnitude more complex. If you are still buying PPC by hand good luck with that. Too much UNDER (costs) and not nearly enough OVER (benefit) for our risk / reward palette. Better to hire an agency OR, for about the same money, DIY with a predictive management tool like Marin.
We looked at several and liked Marin the best. Its UI was understandable, installation was easy and commitment was low. We just added Marin to our list of Cool Tools in our Ask For Help Haiku Deck:
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
March 11, 2015 11:38 AM
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
August 27, 2014 12:12 PM
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Warren Buffet's tips for startups as Bill Gates says, "Stick 'em up Finishing our Haiku Deck Analysis (Scooped here http://sco.lt/80QYs5 and on Curagami here http://www.curagami.com/featured/buffet-tools-conversations-top-haiku-decks/ ) we were surprised how much our #1 views deck: Startup Tips From Warren Buffett is in front of #2 (Content Marketing Tools).
Fuffett is 35% ahead in views, but Warren is NOT the most shared. That honor goes to our fastest scaling deck ever - The Invisible Giant: Why The New SEO Is So Hard To See (http://shar.es/11X9fa ).
If you are a startup the Oracle of Omaha has tips for you and our tip is to use Haiku Deck. .
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
July 5, 2014 1:32 PM
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Our Startrup Factory funded startup Curagami, a content marketing tool for merchants and content marketers who "get it", lauched into "Friends Beta" yesterday & we need your help.
We need help teasing out the good stuff and toss the trash. As any startup learns problems multiple. Easy to solve the problem for all the right reasons. Together we can create tools needed by merchants and publishers to KNOW what content matters to who and why.
LESS STRESSFUL is our goal after spending years gambling with millions we want to provide a MAP merchants and content marketers can use to enjoy the journey. Hope you will join our journey and visit our landing page at: http://www.curagami.com/friends-beta/
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Rescooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
from AgileMinds
February 21, 2014 5:14 PM
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
December 28, 2013 2:08 PM
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Netflix & Amazon play the online merchandising game differently than their bricks to clicks former print catalog or brick and mortar retailers. The WAY both these brilliant companies approach content creation and curation present opportunities for starts including: * Create SaaS tools that spin and snip content in similar ways. * Learn to tag information with new dimensions. * Once data has new dimensions create merchandising tools. * Increase the ease and use of predictive modeling online. * Use cloud based computing to achieve more "server side" power. * Make decisions in near real time. * Create crowdfunding systems to relieve financial & operational pressure. * Create User Generated Content engines such as Netflix's reviews-based "SMART" system. The content area is RICH with startup potential. Online merchants and their Software As A Service (SaaS) inbound content marketing cousins must find ways to spin and snip information into more and more powerfully intelligent "buyer assist" systems. Startups who find ways to convert DATA into information and information into buying aids have a rich future ahead. The future always converts better and we are about to take an order of magnitude leap in online conversion, engagement and merchandising thanks to a new generation of Netflix-like "merchandising" tools.
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Suggested by
OsakaSaul
August 30, 2013 11:19 AM
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I'm going to side-by-side it for you: with versus without one reaching hashtag.
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
May 29, 2013 12:01 PM
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Content Marketing Tools For Startups I didn't write this post with #Startups in mind, but I could have. Startups wrestle with content marketing. I suggest these content marketing tools for any startup: * Paper.li * Scoop.it * Google Analytics * Google Adwords * Google Plus * Twitter * A Blog (WordPress) It is possible to change the world with those seven tools. The linked post explains how I use Paper.li for everything from spidering the social web to reputation management. If you are a startup and don't know what either of those ideas are, trust me you will and I promise to post more about content marketing for startups soon.
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
February 15, 2013 10:35 PM
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A multimedia storytelling and sharing community.
Robin Good: Splurgy is a new web service which allows you to engage and reward your best social media fans by offering them unique discounts, coupons and access to offers in exchange for their contribution to make those actions "visible" to their own social networks.
With Splurgy it is also possible to make access to exclusive content, links or guides on your web site available only to those that are your true social advocates. The “Fangate” feature allows your website to give access to exclusive content only to those who follow your social channels.
Last but not least Splurgy collects the name and e-mail address of every user that socially engages with your promotions.
Free to use.
Key features: http://www.splurgy.com/features/
Video tutorials: http://vimeo.com/splurgy/videos/rss
More info: http://www.splurgy.com/
Via Robin Good
Building on the Social Web A few months ago, I embarked in a project which has become more and more engaging and exciting as the weeks progress. With my partner Erik Lumer, we have been working hard in the development and distribution of a product called CircleMe, which Saul quickly spotted on his radar just less than a month from our public release, on October 4th, 2011. Our vision with CircleMe is to create an online environment where users can take advantage of technology and the social web to enjoy more their passions and interests in life (i.e., their “likes”). Social Graph Power The way we want to achieve this is by asking users to “connect” to the things and topics they love, and then CircleMe will leverage clever algorithms along with the power of the social graph to surface relevant content and new items tailored to each user. To get there, we need to move gradually. The first step has been to create an engaging environment where users can easily express all their ‘likes’ and discover (in a serendipic way) new things of potential interest. Then, as activity increases, we will have enough data to reach the goal to surface relevant content in a timely fashion for any interested user...
Via Martin Gysler
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
March 26, 2015 10:49 AM
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Comprehensive list of cool tools from @Robin Good. Robin is the best tool reviewer on the web and this exhaustive list of tools arranged by category of use is invaluable.
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Suggested by
Jitendra Salunke
November 18, 2014 10:26 PM
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We have put together a list of tools that can help you create amazing visual content like infographics, memes, gifs, etc. Must read for every online marketer.
Marty Note Great list mostly new to me. Missing one of my favorite visual marketing tools Haiku Deck: http://haikudeck.com/ . Haiku Deck is much more than a simple UI on the Creative Commons. If you are SMART you will use Haiku and some of these other #cooltools to create the kind of arresting visual marketing we all need and aspire to daily.
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
July 24, 2014 3:53 PM
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Marty's Paper.li Story About a week after starting as Atlantic BT's, largest web dev shop in Triangle area of NC, new Marketing Director my boss & founder / CEO Jon Jordan asked me, "What's this Paper.li" thing.
Jon's displeasure was obvious. I explained how Paper.li is a "get more, do less" content curation tool. Jon said, "It doesn't look like us," and I had to agree. My question back to Jon was, "Is 'looking like us' important," and you can guess his response.
To his credit, Jon asked me to do an analysis before shooting the limping horse. I also related our previous conversation about the "creation of a commons". On my second day as Marketing Director for ABT Jon and Mark Foulkrod, then COO, confessed a concern.
"We think you will steal from us," Mark said straight out (that is the way Mark is). The comment surprised me so I asked the right question. "Why are you worried and what do you think I will 'steal","I asked.
Jon shared the story of a previous employee who "blogged for himself on our dime". I never met the person, but I explained ABT had little or nothing I could "steal".
It was my turn to shock them. I shared how, at that time, ABT's Klout score was 19 while mine was 45. Together, I went on to explain, we were stronger than either apart. We would create a commons mingling my content, ABT's and curating in other content from gurus, thought leaders and ABT customers to create a "rising tide" sure to lift their online reputation boat and mine.
"You will gain more if only due to our starting points," I shared. At the end of my tenure (December 2013) ABT's Klout score was 50, a 233% increase. Mine was 65, a 44% bump.
Paper.li and Scoop.it were MAJOR contributors to the rising tide of ABT's commons. Scoop.it helped test content marketing ideas and Paper.li creates more community faster for LESS work than any tool I know or use (and I use a passel of 'em).
The brilliance behind Paper.li, that they present an algorithm filter of content you've already shared and or mashedup, makes it the GREATEST and most under utilized (and just about the cheapest) content curation tool.
Startups are so WIDGET FOCUSED they don't think about the day they want to share their widget with the world. Paper.li is guaranteed to make "sharing day" easier and for the cost of...well just about NOTHING a startup receives a powerful ally. If you are a starutp or Internet marketer and DON'T use my friends in Switzerland's coolest tool since sliced bread you are nuts.
Oh, btw, when I shared data showing Paper.li was the most powerful community creation tool we had Jon and Mark didn't care if it "looked like us" or not (lol).
** PS. Paper.lis great community manager @Kelly Hungerford just pointed out that if Paper.li had CSS and templating options then ABT's Paper.li would have looked like them. M
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
July 4, 2014 11:55 AM
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The Startup Factory fundeded startup Curagami launches its new content marketing roi tools into "friends beta". What's your Curagami Score? #helpastartup
& THANKS from Team Curagami
http://www.curagami.com/friends-beta/
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
January 13, 2014 9:41 PM
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Startups are fun, creative & may be our best hope. This second of a two part Curatti series covers startup trends from digital homes to wearable tech.
Note No sooner than I finished writing this second post in a 2 part series for http://www.curatti.com Editors of Chaos than one of the featured "Smart Home" startups sold to Google for $3.2B. Amazing.
If that doesn't make you want to fire up a startup and start tinkering nothing will :). M
This 2nd post in a two part series covers more than 25 cool startups from Smart Homes to wearable Tech: http://curatti.com/startup-trends-2014-ii/
Be sure to share your favorites if we missed them.
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Rescooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
from visualizing social media
November 13, 2013 6:59 PM
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Why should you use Google+?There are lots of good reasons to pay attention to Google+, but for me it comes down to these three: - Search is becoming social
- Google+ Authorship is becoming a filter for quality content
- Google+ has the best user experience of any social network
Visit the link to find additional insights, resource links, and useful Google+ information.
Via Lauren Moss
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
July 16, 2013 5:29 PM
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First Example of A SpinSnip [New Content Marketing Tool]
A SpinSnip is moving content from one dimention to another to maximize ROI. SpinSnip Tools is a suite of curation and content marketing tools that help move content within the owned, paid, earned and curated ecosystem increasing return and lowering content creation costs with each SpinSnip.
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
April 26, 2013 12:27 PM
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Making the most efficient and effective use of strategies, tools, and technology for content marketing.
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
November 19, 2012 7:31 PM
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We are proud to present an awesome online service that will help you to drive awareness and build relationships on Twitter.What is Commun.it?
Marty Note Hearing good things about Commun.it. Anyone used it yet? Thoughts? Looks like a must test to me since anything that helps me understand, segment and put into some kind of persona order on @ScentTrail is a very cool idea indeed.
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Scooped by
Martin (Marty) Smith
November 17, 2012 9:39 AM
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Two years ago I wrote a post entitled "Can Anything Stop The Facebook Juggernaut?" in which I marvelled at the fact that Facebook was then worth a whopping $35 billion, according to Second Market.
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