Author - Leslye Schumacher

What Are Universal IDs Or Unified IDs And What Happens When Cookies Go Away?

Cookies, line of code used to track users across the internet and target ads to them, are going away.  Apple’s Safari browser already uses Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) to limit companies’ abilities to track users by blocking third-party cookies that collect this type of data.  Mozilla’s Firefox browser has “Enhanced Tracking Protection” set on as default, blocking all “known...

What is OTT, CTV, vMVPD, SVOD and all the rest of those new digital video terms?

With the rapid changes in digital video it’s hard to keep up with all the new terms for how video content and ads are delivered to consumers. As you are probably aware video ads are considered to be one of the premiere ways to reach consumers. Videos will represent 82% of the web traffic by 2021, and 64%...

Should You Be Using Video Ads In Your Digital Marketing?

Ummm, yah, you should. 80% of Internet users can remember a video ad that they have seen in the last 30 days. But it should be good video. More info on that below. But first, some stats to convince you why video ads are where it’s at for getting amazing return on your advertising investment. 90%...

How-To-Guide On Understanding Your Facebook Insights And Analytics

Most small businesses have a business Facebook Page but are you understanding the wealth of information you can get from Facebook about people who interact with your Page? This is our step-by-step guide to walk you through some of the most valuable information you might be interested in learning. Facebook calls their analytics “Insights” and you can access...

A How-To Guide For SEO: What A Business Can Do, What A Digital Provider Can Do.

There are lots of ways to be a digital marketing guru so that your clients will look to you for advice and guidance. One is to be able to understand and explain Google Analytics reports, which we have a Google Analytics How-To Guide you should check out. Another is to be knowledgeable about your digital advertising products. In this...

Google Analytics Guide: How To Understand Reports & Explain To Your Clients

If you are in advertising and want to be a marketing guru for your clients, you need to have a basic understanding of Google Analytics. One way to learn it is through Google’s free online classes. It’s fairly straightforward, and you can go at your own pace. If you decide to do that – great, but...

Understanding Digital Co-Op Advertising And Terms

How does a small business access digital advertising Co-Op funds? The answer is, unfortunately, many don’t. Even though it is estimated that 43% of small businesses carry or represent products from national brands that offer Co-Op reimbursement for advertising, less than half those businesses use the funds they’ve earned. Why? Over half (52%) of local retailers...

How Does Your Business Get Found In Voice Search?

Wondering how a business optimizes their website for voice search? According to a recent research report, 71% of respondents would rather use voice search for something they need than to physically type in their search question. Whether we are using voice search on our phones or smart speakers, it’s definitely growing in popularity. It’s estimated that...

What Is A Good Click Through Landing Page?

What is a “landing page”? It’s the page of your website that people land on after clicking your ad. Should that be your home page? Maybe, but maybe not. Having the right info on a landing page DRAMATICALLY increases your conversions (getting people to take the next step). Here are some tips for what makes a...

The One Thing You Must Do For Search Engine Optimization

The one thing you can and MUST do as a local business to improve your Search Engine Optimization (meaning – rank on the first page of results when someone searches Google for keywords related to your business) is to optimize your Google My Business listing. Not just claim it – but OPTIMIZE it. Your Google My Business listing is...

Are You Looking For More Quality Conversions?

Conversions are pretty much the pot of gold for digital marketing.  Increasing your conversion rate is fundamental to your client's return on investment and make the most of your digital marketing budget. Vici manages thousands of campaigns and is constantly on the lookout for industry updates on the subject.  Here are some tips to increase your client’s conversion rate:               Include A Clear...

Why Do Native Ads Work?

I have always been told "You can't have your cake and eat it too."  What does that really mean and how is it relevant to native advertising?  The proverb's meaning is similar to the phrases "you can't have it both ways" and "you can't have the best of both worlds."  With native ads, you are!  You are able to...

Radio And Digital Advertising By The Numbers

A recent report on the state of digital advertising as it relates to radio stations selling it, provided some valuable insights into both mediums. The report, “Benchmarking: Local Radio Stations’ Online Revenues” looked at factors such as how much local digital ad dollars are being spent broken out by market and how much of that is with local traditional...

What does Facebook’s latest announcement mean for businesses?

Facebook announced on January 11th that they are doing some further “tinkering” with their algorithm which has implications for businesses that post organically to their Facebook Business Page. While this has made big news in the last week – it really isn’t anything new, it’s a continuation of changes that started two years ago as we talked about in...

Google Analytics Workaround: Using Bit.ly Instead Of UTM Codes

More and more, advertisers are using Google Analytics to traffic the traffic that comes to them from a digital campaign. While Google Analytics is a great tool for analyzing what your website traffic does once they get to your website, it has its limitations. To read more on these issues, click here. For example, you can’t tell exactly where traffic...

What Is Geo-Framing?

Geo-Framing technology allow us to go back in time to previous events where we have captured people’s mobile Unique Device ID’s, map those Unique Device ID’s to their homes, and show those people ads now, across all devices.  It combines the best of aspects of Geo-Fencing and Household IP Targeting. How does it work? If the event you are interested in...

What is Geo-Farming with digital ads? (Example)

You may have heard about a new tactic that’s becoming popular with advertisers seeking to reach people on their mobile devices…It’s called by some Geo-Farming. It’s also referred to as Geo-Retargeting (what we at Vici call it). Why can’t everybody in the digital ad game agree to call things by the same name? Let’s save that for another day! ...

Why Digital Is Not A One-Call-Close

When training traditional media advertising salespeople on how to sell digital, I find that the biggest hurdle is often what made them successful salespeople people to begin with – being able to get their message across quickly, devise a solution, and close the sale – often all in one meeting. When you are selling a media advertising product that people...

Using Digital Advertising To Recruit Your Next Great Hire

Update: Facebook shuttered Jobs on Facebook (February 2023) and Instant Articles (April 2023) Finding the right employee is never an easy task, especially if you’re looking for someone that is qualified.  With so many different job boards out there, from Monster and CareerBuilder to all of the ones that have popped up like ZipRecruiter and even the local job boards...

“I Hate Retargeting”

No, I personally don’t hate Retargeting but I hear this a lot from business owners.  Even from people who don’t know the term “Retargeting,” will say “Uggh, I hate that” when I explain that Retargeting is ads that follow a person after they leave a website and show the person ads for that business on other websites.  These business...

To Boost Or Not To Boost?

By now you’ve probably heard or realized that spending a lot of time posting organically to your Facebook page and trying to generate “likes” is no longer going to help spread your organic reach onto customers’ Facebook pages. Facebook defines organic reach as "how many people you can reach for free on Facebook by posting to your Business Page." It...

Pay-Per-Click Advertising vs Impression Based Digital Ads

At first glance Pay-Per-Click ads (or Google AdWords) seem more efficient because they average a much higher click through rate than impression based advertising. So if you are solely looking at the cost per click, it would seem that PPC is cheaper and more effective. For most local to medium sized businesses this is not the case. Truly targeted...

Is IP Targeting Digital Ads Right For My Business?

Maybe…Maybe not.  How do you know?  First let’s start with what IP Targeting is.  Many digital providers say they do IP Targeting but are referring to targeting small groups of IP addresses.  (An IP address, or Internet Protocol Address, is the string of numbers your internet service provider assigns to your internet connection).  That form of IP Targeting is really...

Facebook Still King Of All Media

What’s the #1 social network among people 18-29 years old? Instagram? Twitter? Nope, Facebook. The common misconception is that millennials – especially young millennials and Gen Z, no longer use Facebook. Actually, 88% of online users aged 18-29 use Facebook, making that demographic Facebook’s largest. And while Facebook’s percentage of older adults is growing, interestingly it is not coming...

What Does The New F.C.C. Ruling Mean For Digital Advertisers?

On October 27th the F.C.C. (Federal Communications Commission) passed new privacy rules about how Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can use and sell customer data to advertisers. They ruled that consumers can say “no” to their ISPs and not allow them to share personal info such as what apps they download, browsing histories, mobile location data and other information gathered while...

92% Of Calls To Businesses Driven By Digital Marketing

92% of calls to businesses in 2015 were driven by digital marketing channels.  That is a statement that kind of takes your breath away and is the headline in a study recently released that tracked 58 million calls.  I think most businesses have realized by now that digital advertising is an important component in marketing their businesses, but do...

Only 1 in 3 Local Searches Start in a Search Engine!

“Everything online begins with a search.” Have you ever heard this oft-quoted thought? It’s true, but it has a very different meaning than it did five years ago. It used to be that this quote meant that people started their search for information, services, and products by going to a search engine (largely, Google). But now, it doesn’t. “A...

The Question Digital Salespeople Should Always Ask

The client has committed and you got the sale. Great! The next thing you should ask this client is, “How will you evaluate if this campaign is successful?” Often in our excitement of getting the order we overlook this extremely important question. If you don’t know how the client will be judging the effectiveness of the digital ad spend, you are...

Traditional Advertising’s Digital Counterpart

If you offer digital advertising to your clients, then you know that sometimes it gets overwhelming with all the new and changing digital advertising options available. So here is a “If This, Then That” guide to what you should suggest to clients, based on what they are currently doing with their traditional advertising. “I do direct mail”  If the advertiser...

How I Explain SEO & Pay-Per-Click To My Mother

I think Search Engine Optimization is one of the hardest things to understand and even harder to explain to small business owners. Now, Google is making all kinds of change to their Search Engine Results Page (SERP), making it more confusing than ever. I’ve learned to run things through my “Mom Test.” If I can explain a digital product in...

Free Ways To Boost A Website’s Organic Search Ranking

One of the things I get asked about by our clients is how they can better the search engine ranking of their website - especially on Google.  Of course, one way is have a company (like Vici!) undertake a Search Engine Optimization campaign for you.  But there are also a number of free things you can do as well....

What is Google AMP?

Google has introduced a new search engine results page feature called Accelerated Mobile Pages or “AMP.” It’s not an ad platform and it’s not a paid search product. AMP are website pages that appear in the organic results in a “news carousel” and have special code written into them so that when clicked, the page instantly loads on your smartphone. Here...

Automotive Dealerships: Mobile Or Desktop Ads?

In a previous post I talked about ways that automotive dealers can use mobile – and specifically location based targeting, to reach consumers who are ready to purchase a vehicle. That has led to several questions from clients. Given the success of this type of auto buyer targeting, should dealerships ONLY use mobile ads and not use desktop and...

Matching Small Biz Digital Marketing Priorities To The Right Digital Product

Finding out what potential advertisers’ needs and goals are for a campaign is critical, but matching those to the right digital product is just as crucial. A majority of small businesses say that they will be spending more on digital marketing this year and a recent study details what they say are their primary goals and priorities. So let’s look at...

How Can Digital Salespeople Prove ROI To Their Clients?

It’s great news to see that 56% of small and medium sized businesses are planning to increase their budgets in 2016. Of particular interest is that many will be concentrating those increases on digital marketing. For those of us in the online advertising world this is indeed great news, but behind this lies a problem. Almost half of small business that...

How Are Auto Buyers Using Mobile In Their Path To Purchase?

The average American consumer considers 2 or more types of vehicles and 5 brands before making their car-purchasing decision. 60% of people are “in market” for a car for at least 6 months, gathering research and seeking advice to help guide their decision making. This is according to a research study  commissioned by Facebook and done by Ipsos Media...

Paid Search Ads Are No Longer King

Display advertising will overtake Paid Search (pay-per-click) advertising in 2016 for the first time according to eMarketer’s estimates.  This fact underscores what we have been saying here at Vici for a while now…Paid Search isn’t the only game in town and it isn’t always the best use of your digital ad dollars. Paid Search is for customers who are ready...

Digital Ad Terms You Need To Know

A/B Testing: When you compare different versions of digital ads or website landing pages to see which one performs better. An A/B test for digital ads would be running two different versions of ad creative and then measuring which version gets a higher engagement from viewers. Above The Fold: This is a term from the print advertising industry. In digital,...

Facebook Adding “Holiday Shopping” Ad Targeting Category

Facebook has announced that starting on Thanksgiving and running through New Year's Day they will let advertisers target ads on Facebook and Instagram to people who publish posts related to the holidays. How will they do this? Facebook looks for holiday-related keywords in people’s posts, what they like, comment on and share. This means advertisers can zero in on people who are...

How To Use Facebook & Instagram Ads For Automotive Dealers

With all the new Facebook and Instagram ad targeting options for automotive dealers, you need a “cheat sheet” to remember all the available options!  We’ve been testing this platform for automotive dealerships with stellar results.  Here are the basics you should know if this is an important vertical for you, and you can print it out and use for...

Google Analytics: Unlocking the insights in the Audience Overview Report

If knowledge is power than knowledge of Google Analytics is a super power. In a previous post I covered how to understand the Home Page of Google Analytics. In this post, we’ll tackle the Audience Overview Report. This report gives you basic information about a website’s performance and traffic. You can navigate to this report by first logging in to...

Ad Blocking? Does It Matter To Advertisers?

(updated 1/24/16) Ad blocking continues to be the hot topic in digital. Ad blocking has been around a long time but is in the news because of the Apple release of iOS 9 which now allows developers to develop apps for the iPhone that block ads. Ad blocking is not part of the operating system, a user would need...

Do You Understand Your Google Analytics Home Page?

If you have a website, you should have a website analytics software program loaded to track your website statistics. Google Analytics is a free program that adds a small snippet of code that is placed on all pages of a website. It gathers detailed statistics about a website’s traffic, traffic sources, even tracking conversions or sales. In this post, I’ll...

How Many Leads Will I Get From My Digital Ad Campaign?

In last week’s post we tackled “What will my traffic/clicks be from my digital ad campaign?” and now we will cover the follow up question that advertisers usually have… “How many leads will I get from my digital ad campaign?” This question is basically asking, what ROI can I expect from my digital advertising? Well, you need to have an...

What will my traffic/clicks be from my digital ad campaign?

There are two questions advertisers typically want to know about their advertising campaign:  how much traffic will my website get (aka how many clicks will I get) and how many leads will I get from my digital ad campaign.  If you’re a digital salesperson, you should be able to answer these questions, and if you’re an advertiser, you should...

How To Get The Most From Your Retargeting Campaign

When Retargeting was first rolled out, it was a fairly straightforward process.  A visitor goes to your website, you drop a cookie on the person, follow that person around the web and show your ad, the person comes back to your website and converts. But, as with all things digital, it is constantly evolving, just as the customer path to...

“Above The Fold” Digital Ads – It Matters!

The average drop in viewability between above the fold ads and below the fold ads is 84%.  In one eyetracking study the difference was found to be as high as 102%! Above the fold positioning of ads means that the ad appears before someone has to scroll. As the numbers above indicate, where your ad falls on a webpage greatly...

Just What Is An Effective CTA?

CTA is Call-To-Action!  You can have the greatest digital strategy implemented but if your ads don’t have an equally great CTA – a compelling reason for the person to click or convert - then your campaign will not get the results you want. So, just what is an effective CTA?  Something that reaches out and grabs your potential customer and...

Digital And Automotive Dealers…By The Numbers

A new report by NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) has some fascinating information about how automotive dealerships are using digital advertising and where they are spending their ad budgets overall.  Here are some highlights from the report for 2014: This was the fifth year of growth for automotive sales, with the average growth rate up over 9 percent since 2010....

Can Less Than 3 Seconds Of A Video Ad Have An Impact?

Nielsen recently tackled a question that many advertisers have regarding video advertising.  How much does the ad benefit me (if at all) if the person skips it after a few seconds?  The answer, their research shows, is…a lot! The study found significant lift in ad recall, brand awareness and purchase consideration even for people who saw the video before it started...