What Verizon’s Acquisition of Yahoo Means for Marketers

For marketers looking to expand beyond Google and Facebook, Verizon’s new subsidiary, Oath, will offer improved targeting and measurement. Through its merging of Yahoo and AOL, Oath will benefit from the advertising capabilities of both companies as well as Verizon’s subscriber data.

The focus on content brands, such as HuffPost and Tumblr, will set Oath apart in the digital advertising space. These content brands will soon be “automatically available on the ‘decktop’ of Verizon subscribers’ phones”.

Oath plans to focus its growth beyond the United States by targeting key markets and possibly acquiring more companies. Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, stated the goal is for Oath to double its consumer base by 2020.

Verizon bought AOL in 2015 for $4.4 billion and recently acquired Yahoo for $4.5 billion. eMarketer estimated Verizon and Yahoo will generate a combined $4.7 billion in digital ad revenue this year.

News coverage around Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo has focused primarily on the resignation of Marissa Mayer as well as Yahoo’s plans to lay off 2,100 workers. The Wall Street Journal reports that most of the job cuts will occur where there are duplicate roles and teams.

From the marketing perspective, however, Oath represents an opportunity for digital advertising to grow. 

The Secret to Great Content Marketing: Storytelling

To many advertisers, “content marketing” sounds strange, bizarre, and maybe a little too confusing of a task to tackle. However, there’s no need to fret, content marketing is not near as challenging as it may seem. The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as, “the marketing a business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action”.

Toby Nwazor’s interpretation of content marketing is that it’s simply good storytelling, and who doesn’t love a good story? Nwazor clarifies in his article, “5 Reasons Businesses Shouldn’t Keep Ignoring Content Marketing”.

Everyone reacts to a good story – whether that story is in video form, words on a page, or told directly from the storyteller’s mouth; good stories bring out emotions that incline listeners to react in some way. For businesses, their job is to make their audiences emotions encourage them to react in a way that is profitable for their business.

Everyone likes a storyteller – and when everyone likes the storyteller they’ll begin to be aware and like your business as well; since the storyteller is in some way or another a part of said business.

Great storytellers can put you before the right audience – and keep you away from the wrong audience. Moment of truth here: I like cats and baseball. Because of this, I am prone to engage with stories regarding cats and baseball (or better yet, both). I am not a fan of the Kardashians or MMA fighting so if I come across an article on either of those topics, I’ll probably ignore it, but that is okay. Advertisers don’t want to be in front of an audience that doesn’t care about their product, they want to be seen by people who will interact and convert. This target audience is also likely to share a story they enjoy with other like-minded individuals, boosting your brand for free.

A great story is cheaper than a news article – and has the potential to be more creative. News articles definitely have their place and purpose, but stories have the ability to go above and beyond your traditional news article for a fraction of the cost.

Everyone can get hooked into a great storyteller – so let’s make sure it’s your storyteller. Get consumers hooked on your stories means getting them hooked on your brand. Top of mind is huge when it comes to consumer decision making and with consistent and relatable stories, your brand will be the first thing to come to mind.

Get personal, get creative, and get in front of your desired audience. Tell a story, trigger emotions, and drive consumers to react. Stop worrying about the unknown “content marketing” and remember the great stories you heard as a kid. Now, revamp those stories, connect them with your brand, and build a loyal customer base. 

Native Advertising: Accepted by Millennials but Questioned by Baby Boomers

You might be asking yourself, “native advertising, what’s that?” no worries, 42% of the adult population is clueless, too. Native advertising is defined by YouGov as, “the practice of placing videos or articles on a website that appear similar to the site’s regular content, but are actually paid ads that promote a product or company.” Remember the last time you were on a news related website and saw a couple stories with a label such as “sponsored” or “advertisement” next to it? Well, that is native advertising.

According to YouGov, millennials are the most welcoming when it comes to these advertised articles whereas older generations are worried about this paid content.

However, when users risk losing free access to website content, the older generations are more accepting of the ads.

Regardless of the immediate perception, native ads don’t seem to be going away any time soon. In fact, BI Intelligence estimates that by 2018, $21 billion will be spent on this form of advertising alone. 

Predictions to (Probably) Come True in 2016

With the New Year upon us, society is filled with new predictions, goals, and resolutions (that might not last through the month of January). Many of these goals are on a personal level: I want to lose weight, I want to travel more, I want to get married, I want to go to college. All of these are great, but the New Year brings a fresh slate to the business world as well. Here I’m going to share some 2016 predictions as they relate to the wonderful world of marketing.

Ari Kepnes, a content strategist for Contently, expects to see more branded content in the form of GIFs, interactive infographics, videos, live streaming, and web series.

Meaghan Moraes, a senior content specialist at Responsive Inbound Marketing, foresees an increase in relationship marketing and says companies can improve their relationships with consumers by using data that allows marketers to meet consumers where they’re at. 

Moraes suggests an increase in location-based marketing technology by utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to connect with nearby devices and offer special deals right then and there.

Kieran Dahl, a social media editor for Contently, predicts an increase in Facebook as the main channel to get information shared and viewed. Dahl projects that businesses will follow the lead of the well-delivered BuzzFeed and New York Time publishers.

Andrew Hutchinson reports for Social Media Today that we’ll likely see an increase in emoji usage on social media platforms. Hutchinson predicts that emojis will take over Instagram posts making text a minority.

For me, I wouldn’t be surprised to see advertising on Snapchat jump drastically. Once Snapchat opens up their advertising platforms on a more local level, I assume businesses will jump on board with sponsored filters, promoted “stories”, and increase their (possibly) already existing Snap-accounts.

Over the past few years, days such as National Cheeseburger Day, National Brown Dog Day, and National Best Friend Day, have popped up all over social media. I would predict that in 2016 marketers will jump on board with these “days” in order to create a connection with their consumers outside of traditional advertising.

What do you think? Are these predictions going to make it past the month of January? Will they come true in 2016? What predictions do you have of your own? Who knows, 2016 might be the year pigs fly, cars drive themselves, and the Cubs win the World Series.