AdSoak - A Digital Marketing Blog by Scott Rowe

Is Apple developing its own mobile ad network?

Scott Rowe — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:39:38 +0000

As reported on AppleInsider.com, the company is in the process of hiring developers to extent the current iPhone/iPod developer framework to include advertising. It appears that Apple will be creating additional functionality to allow application developers to easily add paid advertising into their applications. This new feature will allow publishers to add a new simplified revenue stream into their published applications with minimal effort.

Apple hasn’t yet delved into the ad network arena so it will be interesting to see how they sell the new mobile ad inventory that will of course become available to advertisers. I also want to see how will they target users with relevant marketing messages? Will they pull usage information from each application the user currently runs or will they leverage information about their iTunes purchasing and browsing habits. It will be very interesting to see this unfold over the next year or so.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Scott Rowe — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:48:19 +0000

While putting my son to bed tonight I read him the story of the Tortise and the Hare. This is a story I have read many times as both a child and an adult. The moral to the story is simple. Take your time to ensure that things you do are done well. Don’t rush around from thing to thing just because you can.

As marketers we can tend to focus on the latest trends looking for the next silver bullet. Well, while we may get lucky from time to time, we probably waste more time than we should on unproven tactics.

I’m not implying we shouldn’t try new things but let’s be sure to temper our ambitions and make sure we work hard on a few things to bring them to fruition. Remember slow and steady wins the race.

Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7

Scott Rowe — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:43:20 +0000

In the past couple of years Microsoft has lost their way on the mobile platform. With the iPhone, Blackberry, Pre and Android phones getting all the headlines Microsoft has been trailing the pack in innovation and attention. Microsoft is putting their best foot forward to try and regain some market share with Windows Phone 7. As an iPhone owner who absolutely loves his device I can’t see myself switching but I have to admit that Microsoft seems to have hit the mark pretty well with their new offering.

How can you use Technorati to learn more about your industry and customers?

Scott Rowe — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:34:31 +0000

If you are not familiar with Technorati, it is search engine specializing in the indexing of blogs. It’s true that Google also indexes blog content, but it’s results are not nearly as timely as those of Technorati. Due to the nature of blog software and the technology of ping services, Technorati is notified automatically when a blog adds a new article. This entry is then quickly indexed and made available for search.

So how can this help you? Easy, have you ever wanted to know what people are currently talking about regarding your industry or any given topic? Technorati gives you a powerful search tool for any topic. Not only that but you can search by the authority level of the blog. The authority is basically a measurement to whether the blog has high readership, commenting & inbound web links. So you basically know whether the blog in question has pull or not.

On top of that the search will also display how many mentions the term you used has been mentioned over a period of time. This gives you instant feedback to know if the topic is trending up or down.

If you haven’t used Technorati, check it out.

Following the influential

Scott Rowe — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:40:53 +0000

I follow a large number of blogs and social news services daily. There are some I have followed for years and others I lose interest in quickly. In an industry that changes so rapidly you simply have to. I have also wondered what some of the most influential people in the industry follow and read. Luckily Google Reader has reached out to some of these people and is now publicly sharing their subscriptions. I’ve just added another five news sources to my collection and we’ll see where it leads me.

Google’s Featured Reading Lists

Wordpress Plugin for posting to Twitter

Scott Rowe — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:30:26 +0000

I am going to test out Twitter Tools for Adsoak. If all goes as planned, this should allow for me to automatically update my Twitter account with posts from Adsoak.com. Thanks to Will Flavell at Everybodysagenius’s Weblog for the idea.

Multitasking is a frustrating task in itself.

Scott Rowe — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:15:26 +0000

It seems I can’t go ten minutes during the day when I am not multitasking. Whether it be email, phone, instant messaging, text messaging, face to face conversation, I have a hard time focusing on a single task. As I write this article my son is trying to climb up on me to see what I am doing. I quite often have to work away from my office in order to get any real work done. I quickly realize that while there is a tremendous amount of stimulation and content whirling around me, I can’t truly digest and retain most of it. This just causes me frustration and forces me to repeat tasks that I shouldn’t have to. Some recent research shows that it may be possible to train you brain to be a better at multitasking. Like most things however it requires discipline and training. Read more about Training your brain to multitask at the Neuromarketing blog.

How many pages from my website will show up on a search results page?

Scott Rowe — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:59:15 +0000

Google allows for only two URLs from any given domain name to be displayed in a search result. This also rings true when using sub domains. So if you have a parent website and sub domain websites only two pages from both combined will be returned.

Yahoo and Microsoft pen deal to change search.

Scott Rowe — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:55:13 +0000

Yahoo and Microsoft have completed a deal that will allow for Microsoft’s search technologies to power Yahoo’s search. Yahoo will become the sole seller of both company’s premium search advertisers. I am torn over this alliance in that I have been a Yahoo user since the mid 90’s and I am sad to see their approach left behind, however it can’t be denied that Microsoft has passed Yahoo in regards to search technology. Even the naysayers have embraced Bing as a superior search experience.

Read more about the Yahoo – Microsoft search deal at TechCrunch or go to the official website Choice. Value. Innovation.

RFP, RIP!

Scott Rowe — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:34:47 +0000

I just read an artice that proposes the elimination of the RFP. As someone that has responded to more RFPs that I would ever want to admit, I do find the concept invigorating. More often than not a company will make their final agency selection based on their comfort level of the individuals within the agency. This comfort is achieved by the agencies personality, strategic thinking and creative execution.

The idea of a RFM or request for meeting is perhaps one of the simplest solutions. Any decent agency will come to the meeting with good strategic thinking and a grasp of the prospects business problems and possible solutions. But this could dramatically reduce the time needed for the agency selection process and reduce the upfront financial commitment by the agency to compete for your business. Why is this benneficial? More agencies will be willing to take the time to talk with your company and compete for your business.

Please read the article “The end of the agency RFP era” by Bob Wheatley