Blog posts from MKG Marketing

2021 September View From Here — To Gather

Gather means to bring together which is what we did. We gathered in Boston for our first summit in what feels like forever. Here’s my retrospective.

2021 August View From Here

Kerry Guard and Mike Krass have learned a lot about themselves these last 10 years especially when it comes to MKG Marketing and how they're looking to lead this digital marketing agency in the roaring twenties. Mike Krass explains.

The View From Here — June 2021

At MKG Marketing diversity, equity, and inclusion work is important to us. June was an important month for the LGBTQ+ community and here's what we're doing about it.

Our View From Here — July 2021

Update on MKG Marketing from the front - New employee, website, and podcast season!

The View From Here — May 2021

At MKG Marketing our mission and values have always been at the core of who we are. As we continue to grow and change our values have adapted with us.

View From Here - April 2021

It’s A New Dawn. A New Day. A New Life. And I’m Feeling Good

HTML5 and SEO

Discover our SEO Experts POV on HTML5 and creative ways to leverage the HTML5 code structure to impact keyword and passage rankings.

Our View From Here - March 2021

Each month, we take time to reflect on the last month. As a people first companyit's important to recognize our wins and our failures and most importantly what we learned through the process.

Bye Bye Bye Broad Match Modifier

With Google no longer supporting Broad Match Modifier, Digital Advertising experts need to up their game to ensure strong paid search results.

View From Here - February 2021

Now that Black History Month is over, it's time to reflect on what we have done thus far as an organization, and most importantly, what work we still have yet to do.

View from Here: January 2021 part 2

This Month's View from Here focuses on Living with Intention. How do you plan to thrive in 2021?

How To Build A Company Around Your Values

Our COO Kerry joined Dr. Jankovic on her podcast, "Within Us", to discuss building a values-driven company. They also talk about why you should always put your people first!

View from Here - January 2021

Sprinting into 2021 with the First View From Here Post from CEO Mike Krass

View from Here - December 2020

Christian Bullock, Our First Employee, Departs MKG for a New Professional Venture.

View from Here - November 2020

One really big, exciting piece of news to share!

View From Here - September 2020

Last month we had our annual summit. While we were sad it was virtual, we stillshowed up, participated, and learned about our PeopleFirst value and each other.

View from Here - August 2020

Top Trends, Tips, & Takeaways - Digital Summit At Home & MozCon

With our team attending more conferences in 2020 than ever, we wanted to sharekey takeaways from this year’s Digital Summit and MozCon. Read on.

View from Here - July 2020

Explore the Benefits of Losing, Why it Matters to Seek to Understand, and howFinancial Gain is a Byproduct of Performance with this Month's Special Guest Emmitt Smith.

View from Here - June 2020 Update

Never Quitting on Your Teammates. Roman Emperors who Doubled as Philosophers.This (and more!) in the June edition of the View from Here.

View from Here - May 2020

Read What CEO Mike Krass Discovered about Himself When I Took a Week of PTO During a Global Pandemic and Nationwide Recession

View from Here - April 2020

Be so good they fight over you

View from Here - March 2020 Edition

The MKG team wants to know: How are you doing during COVID-19?

The Coronavirus SEO Benchmark - Updated on April 27, 2020

Curious How the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak is Affecting SEO Traffic in China? Read Our Monthly Update

PDF SEO - How To Rank

PDFs can potentially competitively rank for keyword searches. While not as effective as a web page, an optimized PDF can help expand a website’s organic search footprint. Here's how.

Remote Work Environments like MKG

This Post Reads Like a Journal, Outlining How Remote Work Environments likethe One at MKG Marketing Operate. Read On!

View from Here - January 2020

Trips to Chicago, San Jose and Seattle. Clients Being Recognized as Leaders in their Space. This (and more!) in the January 2020 View from Here post.

View from Here - 2019 in Review

Oh, the places we have been in 2019. Listen to CEO Mike Krass as he talks about all the places we are going in 2020.

View from Here - November 2019 Update

Childhood Halloween Costumes. Mustache Fundraisers. MKG Joining the Wild Worldof Instagram. These Things (and more!) in the October issue of the View from Here.

You Can’t Fake Culture

How culture brings synergy in working remotely and in person.

View from Here - September 2019 Update

The meteoric rise of the Cleveland Browns this offseason. Some of MKG's favoritepeople on the move. This (and more!) in the September 2019 *View from Here* post.

View from Here - July 2019 Update

Contentstack wins a CODiE Award. John Ballard Finally Visits the Sagrada Familiain Spain. Learn What Else Happened at MKG Marketing in the Past 30 Days.

Voice of the Demand Gen Marketer: Zack Wooster from Cloudian

Zack Wooster discusses his challenges, fears, and risks in being a Demand GenMarketer. Hear his voice.

View from Here - June 2019 Update

The quarterly all hands meeting. Adam being promoted. Jenna returning from MaternityLeave. And John joining the team. These are a few of the exciting things that happened in May at MKG Marketing!

View from Here - May 2019 Update

Read the May 2019 Update from MKG Marketing CEO Mike Krass to Learn About New Team Members, Clients and News.

Why Backlinks Are Not The Number 1 Criteria for Ranking Well in SEO

Our SEO Director, Tammy Wood, says yes and NO. Hard on the “No.” Read why.

Four Fab Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2019

I have FOUR Digital Advertising predictions for 2019 that line up nicely withsongs by The Beatles, which makes me happy. So tune in and read on!

2018 Recap - What We Accomplished and Where We're Headed in 2019

2018 Was a Record Breaking Year for MKG Marketing. Hear from CEO Mike KrassAbout 2018 as well as our Plans for 2019.

Bringing our People First Value into Quarterly Goal Setting

Read How MKG Uses Quarterly, Team-Wide Goal Setting Exercises to Live Throughour Five Core Values.

3 SEO Predictions for 2019

One of MKG Marketing’s SEO Directors makes three predictions for the future of SEO in 2019. Do you agree?

Using Out of Office Messages to Create Unique Brand Experiences

Every interaction with your company creates an experience, or memory, in your customers mind. Read a simple way to create a positive memory using your email's Out of Office message.

John Mueller and Gary Illyes SEO Takeaways from Pubcon 2018

Are hashed URLs useful for SEO? How tough is it to prepare for the Mobile First Index (MFI)? Learn this (and more!) from Google's Gary Illyes and John Mueller at Pubcon 2018!

Facebook Organic Post Benchmarks - November 2018

Facebook Organic Post Benchmarks across Post Types such as Video, Image and Link. Updated as of November 6, 2018.

LinkedIn Organic Post Benchmarks - October 2018

Read LinkedIn Organic Post Benchmarks that are Updated as of October 30, 2018.

What is Parallel Tracking?

Parallel tracking exists to serve a third party tracker and the final URL at the same time, rather than sequentially. This saves load time and gives users a better experience. See How.

MKG Wins 2018 BrightEdge Edgie Award

Thanks to all our hard work in conjunction with our Informatica marketing team we have won the 2018 BrigeEdge Edgie Award for Performance and Results!

Why I Duplicate All My Google Ads Campaigns

Due to misconfiguration, a campaign that ran for 45 minutes on the Google Display Network ended up costing $1.6 million. Prevent this from happening with one simple step.

Why MKG Focuses on Business Outcomes

Watch our CEO Mike Krass Explain the Importance of Business Outcomes in yourDigital Marketing Activities.

Industry News - Average CMO Tenure Is About 18 Months

Recent Analyst Discussions Show The Average Tenure of a Chief Marketing Officeris 18 Months.

Operation SEO Training

Informatica's Web Marketing Team Visits the MKG New Orleans office for an Intensive 2 Day SEO Training.

Account Director Reflections: Flat Organization

As an Account Director, working with senior staff in a Flat Organization meantsome big adjustments in my role compared to my previous agency life. Read on.

From Day 1 to 2,555 - Happy 7th Birthday to MKG Marketing!

Read our 7th Birthday Post to Hear Reflections on the Past 2,555 Days at MKGMarketing from CEO Mike Krass.

How to Generate an XML Sitemap

A guide on what an XML Sitemap is, why it's important, how to generate one, and then how to implement it. Get going.

SEO Voice Search Best Practices

With the growth in mobile voice searches digital marketing, including SEO, has moved to an AI predictive model. To keep pace with technology, the marketers have done several surveys and studies to get ahead of the emerging trend.

A PPC Professional Uses the New Google Ads 2018 Interface - Part 3 - No Country for Old Men

Google Ads Experience™ expecting something to happen, or surprise me. It remindsme a little of “No Country for Old Men” which literally kept me in suspense the whole time...

GDPR and Google Analytics

Google Analytics changes for compliance with GDPR and not lose important data after May 25th?

Search Engine User Optimization - There’s no “U” in SEO

Using SEO for Search Engine User Optimization- Write for the User

A PPC Professional Uses the code - Part 2 - Fury Road

I’ve spent some time already in the interface - I even found you the best sortahidden Google Ads Experience™ report, so I’m not jumping in blind. But it feels that way....

The New Google Ads Interface Transition Happening by November 2018

Google has just announced the new Google Ads interface will be switching by the end of 2018...but it’s actually coming sooner than that.

A PPC Professional Uses the New Google Ads 2018 Interface - Part 1 - Into The Mouth of Madness

Join our PPC Expert, Adam Bullock, as he documents his journey of switchingCOLD TURKEY to the Google Ads Experience™.

You Got SERVED! Billed Cost vs Served Cost in the New Google Ads Interface

How to produce a report in Google Ads that shows how much was served verse what was actually billed.

Join the Club! MKG Marketing is Officially a Bing Ads Fan

We’re a big fan of Bing Ads at MKG - so we joined the fan club! How does Bing Ads compare to Google Ads?

MKG Marketing is now Featured on Clutch

See in depth client reviews about MKG Marketing.

Delete a Search Engine Result Listing from Google

Remove a listing TODAY! Learn how you can delete an owned-property search engine result listing from Google, Bing and Yahoo!

It’s January 2, 2018. What just happened?

As a boutique digital marketing agency we have overcome the odds last year and through it all, came out on top.

Page Load Speed | How to Make Your Website Faster to Rank Higher

Page Load Speed and SEO, increase user engagement by speeding up your website.

The Google Elevator Program Will Help MKG Serve Our Customers Better (September 2017)

Learn How the Google Elevator Training Program this September in Austin WillHelp MKG Serve Our Customers Better.

3 Months of Sweet, Glorious Paternity Leave

Read how Adam Bullock, director of Social Advertising, plans on spending the next three months with his wife, son, and new little girl.

August 2017 Google Ads Benchmarks By Industry

Check out these August Google Ads industry benchmarks by vertical.

Using Screaming Frog for Google Tag Manager Implementation

See how Screaming Frog can make Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics implementation easy!

What Stops Companies from Hiring SEO Firms?

Read Some Common Objections or Obstacles that Companies Face When Deciding Whether to Invest in SEO as a Growth Channel.

Peer Study: What Growth Channels Provide The Best Marketing ROI for Startups?

Read Our 2017 Marketing Peer Survey That Answered the Question “What Growth Opportunities Should Startups Invest In?”

Why is my Bing traffic down? Four ways to diagnose

This post is designed with some specific knowledge in hand to help diagnose any organic search issues you may be having over at Bing / Yahoo.

Google Search Team Tips to Hire an SEO – February 2017

Google updated the Do you need an SEO? page of their webmaster support center with a video that outlined four key steps all businesses should take once they have decided to hire an SEO expert.

Exceeding Expectations: Why We Attended the CNCF Cloud Native Road Show in Portland – February 2017

Media Predictions for 2017— Transparency and Trust

Marc Pritchard, P&G's Chief Brand Officer, spoke to the program requirementsat the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Annual Leadership Meeting at the end of January 2017.

Healthcare Marketing Trends in 2017: Costs & Outcomes

Facebook Ad’s Power Editor

Facebook Ad's Power Editor updated today. Read what's new.

Why I work @ MKG | Mike Krass

Why I Work at MKG | Kerry Guard

Why I work @ MKG | Christian Bullock

Here are the three reasons why Christian Bullock still works at MKG 3 years later.

Why I Work @ MKG | Adam Bullock

MKG Turns FIVE Years Old Today

Today is the day: we as a company are celebrating our fifth birthday. See whatwe''ve learned.

Should you switch to HTTPS for SEO in 2016?

As of right now, MKG believes that for most websites there isn't enough of a benefit to switch to HTTPS due to the amount of planning and resources it will take to make a complete, 100%, bug free transition.

What the 6/29 Facebook News Feed Update Means for Marketers & Facebook Ads

This One Exercise Will Improve Your Site Ranking Strength Now (Break the 301 Redirect Chains)

How one easy exercise can help drastically improve your website's ranking strength.

MKG: a Google Premier Agency Partner in 2016

MKG has been named a Google Premier Agency Partner! Read what this means foryou as a client.

Word Counts for SEO: How Many Words Should Your Content / SEO Elements Be?

How to ensure your seo title and meta description get impressions and clicks but not exceeding word count limits.

YouTube Advertising

YouTube advertising based on campaign. data from 8 clients, with MKG Marketing.

We Have to Go Back! Adam Bullock is BACK

New Team Member: Jessica Ward

301 Redirect Chains, Intro to an Advanced SEO Topic

This is a little bit of a teaser post, but we wanted to go over the concept of what a 301 redirect chain is.

Who is hiring a Paid Search specialist? We are!

Value Based Pricing for Marketing Agencies

How brands and digital marketing agencies can build trust by having agencies get paid based on the client's outcomes.

The Newest Addition to MKG: Chris Trammell

Meet Chris Trammell. Our newest MKG addition from BBVA has joined to sharpen our Analytics Capabilities.

CB 3y MKG

Creating a New Google Analytics Property Using Google Tag Manager (GTM)

Understanding how many people visit your website and what they do when they get there is important for everyone from the part-time blogger to the corporate CEO.

Subdomain SEO Case Study: Getting the most SEO out of a suboptimal situation

SEM Research: How Do You Present Paid Search Build Outs?

QA Optimizely Experiments: A 3-Step Guide

Enhance your brand tweets in two minutes with Twitter Cards

How to share an image on Twitter using WordPress JetPack.

Keyword Stuffing: A Creative Take

Facebook Ads: Targeting Options in April 2015

What targeting options does Facebook Ads have? Christian Bullock explains.

How to Perform a Competitive SEO Audit for Executives

A step-by-step guide to learn how to benchmark your websites ranking in search engines against competitors and compile your findings for an executive-level SEO conversation.

Two Google Tools to Ensure You Have a Mobile-Friendly Website

Ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is now a necessity to ensure you rank well in SEO. Here are two Google tools to get you started.

Google Analytics: What are Intelligence Events?

Intelligence events allow you to set up custom alerts when significant changeshappen on your website.

Google Analytics: Making Use of Automated Reports

Google Analytics Know How: Funnel Visualization for Mobile Apps

Adam Bids MKG Marketing Adieu

Adam is off in pursuit of a new career as an educator. Read about his experience at MKG and his future plans as a teacher.

It’s Been Real MKG!

YouTube SEO Best Practices [Free Download]

How you make sure your content is bubbling up to the top of YouTube’s search results.

How to Be a Good Influencer in Six Simple Steps

Six simple steps to attract companies interested in doing influencer outreach to score great perks like free swag, VIP access and cash for doing what you already love – creating content online and sharing that content with your friends.

It May Be Time to Include Bing Ads In Your Marketing Mix

It may be time to add Bing Ads to your digital marketing mix. Read why.

An Ode to Christian

Our first employee, Christian Bullock, set the stage of People First. See how.

2014 Year in Review (Spoiler: It Was Awesome)

We used the word 'kickass' to describe 2013. Well, how did we follow up a 'kickassyear? With an awesome 2014!

What MKG Marketing is Thankful For This Thanksgiving

It's that time of the year! Being thankful isn't a new concept for the gang here at MKG Marketing. We spend time every single Friday discussing the things we're thankful for during the work week. I decided to gather some thoughts from the team and share it with the world!

How Twitter Generated 10x Visitors from SEO - Our Thoughts

Twitter recently announced they made a change earlier this year to ensure that search engines like Google and Bing could better access 50,000 popular hashtag pages. See the impact.

Automate Social Media Success with IFTTT (If This Then That)

The marketing world is hellbent on automating everything: programmatic advertising (from folks like Rocket Fuel, Data Xu and more), programmatic email marketing, marketing automation from Marketo and more.

How To Build An Intersectional Digital Marketing Team of Experts

Kerry Guard and Christian Bullock to present at the What If...? Conference in Philadelphia. Look for updates on what they presented!

A Marketer’s Guide to Pinterest Messaging

Pinterest messaging could be the biggest game-changer for marketers. See why.

ClubBING Google: 3 Ways Bing Beats Google

Here are three ways to use Bing Ads to enhance your paid search efforts.

5 Words to Use on Your Website (and 5 Words to Avoid)

Too often, websites fail to convey the absolute awesomesauce that a company offers. Simply, it's in how a company chooses to describe their product/offering via the words on their website that can be its downfall. We wanted to give you the "secret sauce" on how to properly describe your offering on your website, while also giving you the "mustard." Because nobody likes "mustard." The word itself isn't even appealing. Read on for FIVE words to absolutely make sure are on your website and 5 words to CTRL-F and get rid of immediately.

7 Steps for Starting Your Pinterest Account – The Right Way – Part 2

In the second part of this two-part blog series Vincent looks at the last 3 steps for starting a Pinterest account - the right way.

7 Steps for Starting Your Pinterest Account – The Right Way – Part 1

This first part, in a two-part blog series, gives the basics of Pinterest and looks at the first 4 steps for starting a Pinterest account - the right way.

The Response to Commercials: The Ultimate Time Suck

In an earlier blog post, we set out to try to put the amount of time we spend watching commercials on Hulu Plus into context. Using an average San Francisco salary to calculate time spent watching commercials, Kerry found that she had wasted $4,612.50 of lost time due to commercials watching her favorite shows. $4,612.50 An eye-opening number. We took Kerry's calculations, made them look spiffy via an easy-to-read infographic and spread the news to the world! What was the response?

Knowledge Graph Optimization - Be A SERP Thought Leader

The future of search. Enhancing search engine's search results. Could change search forever. All of these phrases are what others have used to describe the Knowledge Graph. That being said, are you able to have influence over this "Knowledge Graph" and have it potentially serve up what you choose?

DuckDuckGo and YOU: Viewing Referral Traffic & How to Advertise

DuckDuckGo is booming to the tune of 1 billion searches in 2013. Are you curious how much traffic is coming to your website from the privacy-focused search engine? Or how you can advertise on it?

Sparking the Slow Clap: Adding Value Beyond Your Core Service

One of the most important question for companies is how to get customers to stick around. Since this is MKG Marketing and we’re in the business of amplifying your awesomeness, we go one step further: how do you get your customers to sing your praises? To chant your name while fist-pumping from the rooftops? To subconsciously hear an angelic chorus sing whenever they think of your company? How do you get your customers so pumped about your company they transform into brand evangelists? By adding value beyond your core service. Do this and you’ll spark the slow clap.

5 Things I’ve Learned in the 32 Month Journey of MKG Marketing

How to Chart Organic Search CTR Curve Using Google Webmaster Tools

In learning more about SEO, Kerry Guard learned how to Chart Organic Search CTR, for Search Director Christian Bullock.

3 Reasons to Leave Google Ads Management to the Experts

Stepping into the Paid Search Director's shoes.

Rockstar Content Marketing Strategist: Acquired

Greetings and hello! My name is Adam Bullock and I am thrilled to have joined the MKG Marketing team as their rockstar Content Marketing Strategist! My professional background runs the gamut of different industries, but the one constant has been my passion for digital marketing and finding innovative ways to engage people online.

Yes, I was a Web Designer. No, it wasn’t pretty.

I chose to put on Kerry's web designer hat. I mean, how hard could designing a straight-forward 120x90 banner be?!

Google Tag Manager: How to Implement Custom HTML Tags on Click Listeners

The issue with implementing a custom HTML tag on a click listener in Google Tag Manager is that it's actually a three step process that isn't entirely clear until you've gone through it a few times. See our step by step guide.

SearchFest 2014: Highlights and Disappointments

This is the eighth year that SearchFest has been put on in Portland and I've actually been to every single one except for SearchFest 2013. So, I've seen how this event has grown both in attendance as well as the quality of the speakers they bring in.

Attention: We’re in Search of a Rockstar Content Strategist

The Most Awesome and Official 2014 Goals of MKG Marketing

Our team loves to make important decisions on our feet: Literally We'll lace up our sneakers and host a meeting while we go on a walk. The team is big fans of stretching our legs and getting some fresh air as we make decisions; it just feels good! On one of our most recent walks, we thought out loud about what fun things we wanted to accomplish in 2014 outside of our business-minded goals. In essence, what makes working at MKG fun and rewarding?

Planning Analytics vs. Day-to-Day Executional Analytics

As a digital marketing experts, we need to look up, out and forward to our great KPIs like Pipeline create. But what are the nuonced, day-to-day, metrics that will lead us there?

Social Signals: The New Inbound Link Ranking Factor for Organic Rankings

Social signals are proving to have influence over organic search ranking factors.See how.

2013 in Review

As we approach 2014, we wanted to take some time to reflect on how 2013 treated us. To be frank, 2013 was a kick-ass year for MKG Marketing. Here's why!

SEO & Web Design Tips for Fast Growing Companies

What Do Many Fast Growing Companies All Have in Common? Subpar Websites! Read Our SEO & Web Design Tips for Fast Growing Companies to Fix This At Your Company.

4 Reasons Video is Critical for Every Search Engine Optimization Strategy

Learn 4 Key Reasons Why All SEO & Content Marketing Strategies Should Include Video As a Key Component to Driving Site Traffic & Product Sales

SEO Best Practices for YouTube

Read three things you need to do to ensure your videos are optimized for search.

Marketing Tests: Strategic or Tactical?

Learn the Difference Between a Strategic & Tactical Marketing Test, as well as the Benefits and Outcomes of Each One.

Diary of a Digital Marketing Intern (Part 5 of 5): That’s It, That’s All!

In the Conclusion to His Diary of Digital Marketing Intern Series, Jamin Dailey Recaps His Summer Internship at MKG Marketing

Diary of a Digital Marketing Intern (Part 4 of 5): The Benefits of Working for a Small Business

In the Fourth Part of His Diary of Digital Marketing Intern Series, Jamin Dailey Discusses The Benefits of Working for a Small Business

Diary of a Digital Marketing Intern (Part 3 of 5): A Winning Mindset!

In the Third Part of His Diary of Digital Marketing Intern Series, Jamin Dailey Discussed Six Ideas That Make a Positive Impact on His Intership

Diary of a Digital Marketing Intern: Doin’ Work!

Diary of a Digital Marketing Intern: Part 1 of 5

In this series, I plan to outline my role as a digital marketing intern, whatI have learned thus far, and why interning for a small business has a big payoff.

The Anatomy of a Great Tweet

Last week, one of our medical clients asked the question, 'How do I know if I am using Twitter correctly?' We're going to walk through 5 easy steps to Tweet like a pro.

3 Blog Content Tones That Can Set You Up for Success

Read how your blog content writing style can have a big effect on how your readership remembers your brand.

Content Marketing Bible: 8 Great Content Types to Produce

Part 2 of our 6 Part Content Marketing Bible Outlines Eight Great Types of Content to Include in Your Content Marketing Strategy

3 Steps Every Brand and Agency Should Take to Launch a Digital Marketing Campaign

COO Kerry Guard Walks Through the 3 Essential Steps Every Brand & Agency Should Take Before Launching a Digital Marketing Campaign

Content Marketing Bible: Creating a Content Marketing Strategy

This Article Explains How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy. Establishing Goals, Outlining Parameters, Role & Responsibilities and using Data to Create a Master Keyword Playbook & Content Calendar.

The MKG Marketing Content Marketing Bible: A Six Part Series

A Six Part Series on Content Marketing: The MKG Marketing Approach to Creating a Strategy, What Content To Create, How Often to Publish Content, Content Promotion & Data Driven Decision Making.

How to Calculate Lifetime Value of a Loyal Customer

Walking Readers Through a Simple Lifetime Value Equation to Measure the Monetary Value of Loyal Customers

How to Track Facebook Promotions Using 3rd Party Tags

A Step-by-Step Guide Describing How to Track Facebook Promotions Using 3rd Party Tags

Three Interactive Dashboarding Tools Your Company Should be Using

A Review of Three Interactive Dashboard Tools -- Leftronics, DashZen & GoodData -- to Provide Marketers With a Single, Centralized View of their Business and Marketing Analytics

MKG Marketing named Agency of Record for Zweena Health

MKG Marketing, a San Francisco Digital Marketing Agency, was Named the Agency of Record for Zweena Health In March 2013

Google Tag Manager: What It Is & 3 Fixes to Common Problems

Read about what Google Tag Manager is, three fixes to common problems users tend to have with the product, and to see if using GTM is something you should do.

The Cost, Return on Investment & Benefits of Marketing Analytics

A Formula to Measure Costs of Marketing Analytics & The Potential Return on Investment of Investing in a Strong Marketing Analytics Practice.

Four Things to Consider When Evaluating Banner Ad Creative

There are Four Considerations to Note When Evaluating Banner Ad Creative: Clear Value Proposition, Clear Imagery, Character Limit & an Actionable Call to Action (CTA)

What You're Missing Without Integrated Marketing Analytics

An Introduction to the Benefits of Integrated Marketing Analytics, including an Analysis of the Current State of Marketing Analytics.

3 Ways Digital Marketing Agencies Measure Mobile

MKG Marketing Walks Through 3 Ways to Execute & Measure Mobile Marketing: Click-to-call,SMS Marketing & Database Marketing.

January 2013 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

Read how Google has captured 67% of the U.S. search engine market share in January 2013 and why you should look into advertising on Bing and Yahoo.

What Valentine’s Day Can Tell Us About Running a Remarketing Campaign

How B2B Marketers can use Remarketing to build a stronger relationship with potential customers.

2012 B2B Marketing Trends in Review

A review of three key B2B marketing trends uncovered during the 2012 calendar year: referral sources, the role of social media & the value of a good website.

Characteristics of a Loyal B2B Customer

Discover the characteristics that define loyal B2B customers as well as, in our experience, how to find and keep those customers coming back for more.

Search Engine Marketing Findings from VMware

Read about what search engine marketing findings we took away with the Shavlik SMB marketing business unit we worked with and how we are applying those learnings to future clients.

Google Authorship: A How-To Guide

How to Implement Google Authorship on Digital Content

Welcoming Christian Bullock to the MKG Team

Three Things to Consider When Hiring a Content Marketing Agency

Measuring Success Through Analytics, Content Style & The Relationship Between How Social Media and Content Marketing Work Together.

MKG Marketing Wins an OMMA Award for Online Advertising Creativity

In conjunction with Ryan Partnership we won our first OMMA Award for the Box Words Campaign.

Four Ways to Make a More Engaging Website

How can brands go about creating a more engaging website for their visitors? Here's four ways.

Using Social Media to Make a Difference

How can brands use social media to make a difference in the lives of their customers?

Happy Birthday & The Power of Content

Customer Service is Objective #1

Following the IdeaMensch #ID48 conference here in San Francisco, I wrote a blog post detailing all the great things I learned that evening.

Agency Advice from Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg

Adam Kleinberg is CEO of Traction. Learn how Adam grew and then sold his business.

Highlights from #ID48

In honor of a great evening, we wanted to share a couple highlights from a few speakers from #ID48.

E-Tailing Group’s 2012 E-Commerce Study Findings

Interesting ROI metrics in how users go from a visit to a purchase.

Guest Post: Gretchen Sword of Bloomberg West

Today's guest post comes courtesy of one of our favorite media partners, Bloomberg West Coast Director Gretchen Sword.

Next Up for Digital Media: Programmatic Premium

Why we toed the line in offering hyper=efficient channels like DSPs.

The Rising Popularity & Value of Mobile Devices

With such a great disparity in time spent and advertising spend, we still believe that mobile marketing is the future of media and advertising.

Finally, a Brand Hits a Home Run with Facebook Ads

In a recent announcement, B2B marketing software giant HubSpot announced that running paid advertisements on Facebook generated a 71% increase in sales from social channels year over year.

Ending All ‘Bad Ads’ Across the Web

We just read a great ClickZ article that examined what Google calls "bad ads" across their advertising platform.

Examples of Highly Clickable Banner Ads

Mashable's new article, 10 Amazingly Clickable Banner Ads, examines ten highly creative and effective banner ads that are just begging to be clicked.

How Traditional Media Outlets are Partnering With Social Giants

As media channels have evolved, marketers & advertisers are constantly looking for ways to create the perfect communications mix. See how to get there?

How to Design Effective ‘Shock Ads’

In a recent iMedia Connection article, ROI DNA's VP of Branding Jim Nichols took a look at 9 different brands that used shock ads.

Facebook Purchases Karma, a Mobile-Based Social Gifting Application

Amazon Kindle Fire to Begin Selling Ad Space

Amazon has decided to sell ads on the device welcome screen. Here are some of the details.

Facebook’s Push for Fan Engagement

In the past month, Facebook has been pushing engagement as a key performance metric instead of volume of likes.

What Big Companies Can Learn From Startups

How and why to operate your business as a startup.

What Facebook Can Teach Us About User Growth

A great Quora thread that discussed some of the decisions Facebook made to skyrocket it's user base to more than 500 million users.

10 Reasons to Start Your Own Company

In honor of all startup agencies we wanted to republish KINGSDAY Managing Director Sander Volten's guest blog post from Talent Zoo, 10 Reasons to Start an Agency in This Economy.

Choosing the Right Client & Agency Partnership

Understanding the Customer Journey

Three Tips for User Acquisition

Brian Balfour, the CMO of Boundless, shared some great advice in this OnStartups article. Building is Not Enough: 5 Practical Tips for User Acquisition.

The Future of MKG Marketing

We have shifted from simple media planning and buying. See where we're going.

Three Facebook Metrics to Track

901 million worldwide users. Nearly 500 million mobile users. Over $2 billion in annual advertising revenue.

The NFL Draft of Advertising

Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Trent Richardson and more will headline the bright lights of New York City tonight.

Three Steps to Marketing Automation Paradise

Ever wonder how your company could simplify the way they communicate with their customers? You''re not alone.

Welcoming YouEye to the MKG Family

Three Myths About Audience Targeting & Cookies

The old model of buying multiple ad networks in order to reach 100% of your audience across the web is horrifically inefficient.

What AMC’s ‘The Pitch’ Missed from WDCW

Recap of The Pitch - what creative agency won when pinned up against each other.

Brand Building 101: Communicating Without Words

Building a brand is one of the more complex and intricate pieces of the marketing mix.

What Hilary Rosen Can Teach Us About Focusing Your Mobile Ad Campaign

In the spirit of always learning from other people's mistakes, we realized there could be no better way to learn from Rosen's mistake than to identify a couple ways to focus a mobile advertising campaign!

Interview with Goodway Group Managing Director / COO Jay Friedman

In our running series of blog posts featuring influential members of the digital media industry, we're proud to feature Jay Friedman's comments in today's blog post.

What Brands Can Learn from Instagram

Does Your Brand Need Dynamic Media Pricing?

Measuring Social ROI using Adobe & Google

Here are a few tools your brand can use to measure everything from vanity metrics to hard ROI performance in the social media space.

Unveiling Social Rewards for TV Viewing

How Useful is Dynamic Media Pricing

How the Los Angeles Dodgers Sold for $2 Billion

Merging Digital & Real Life

FTC Wants Online Privacy Hub for Data Vendors

How Pinterest can Shape Marketing Forever

Brands have the ability to become complacent with their current audience,which could lead to them missing out on previously unseen target segments.

3 Ways to Make Your Website More Social

Here are three ways to not only bring people to your site, but keep them there and bring their friends.

Ad Age Interactive Marketing Spend Forecast

Highlights from the Ad Age Interactive Marketing Spend Forecast.

The Rise of Near Field Communication, or NFC

The Rise of Social Shopping

The Four Best Digital Marketing Resources on the Web

Here's how we stay up to date with the fast moving Digital Marketing world.

Interview with the Adometry Brain Trust

Location Based Social Apps Take over SXSW

Online Ad Spending Nearing $200 Million Mark

Three Media Channels that Nurture Leads

Email, test, and remarketing are all easy ways to nurture your leads into customers.

How to “Rush Limbaugh” Your Audience Online

The Super Tuesday of Digital Media

Boosting On Site Conversion Performance

The 3 Most Valuable Features of a DMP Platform

What is a Data Management Platform & Do I Need One?

What The Daytona 500 Can Teach Us About Marketing

Measuring Qualified Leads

Building an Actionable Analytics Practice

Identifying ‘Holes’ in Your Sales Funnel

Today, we'd like to show marketers how to identify holes, gaps and general inefficiencies in online conversion funnels.

Measuring Mobile Marketing Conversions

Three Examples of Mobile Marketing Genius

How are brands going to communicate their product message to all these smartphone users?

Value of Customers by Digital Channel

How each digital marekting channel can impact your bottom line.

Metrics You Should Be Using

How Your Online Media Team Can Win Best In Show

NAI Reports Ad Networks Compliant with Privacy Code

What Online Behavioral Advertising is and how to make sure your compliant.

Youth Consuming Video Everywhere — Except on TV

iMedia Interview with Ted McConnell

Sarah Fay discussed advertising measurement with Ted McConnell, the new EVPof Digital at the Advertising Research Foundation.

Target Users, Not Customers

The difference between a user and a customer and how to get new users who will move into becoming customers.

Is Advertising Ever Free?

The Super Bowl of Ads

Since America just experienced the biggest advertising day of the year, the Super Bowl, we wanted to take a moment to call out a couple winners and losers that stood out to us during the big game.

Anatomy of a Display Campaign: Messaging Your Target Audience

Once your audience is defined now you need to figure out what message will resonate with that target for your display campaign. Be sure to test multiple banner messages and calls to action in an effort to optimize towards the best results.

How to Combat Unseen Ads Online

Setting Accurate Metrics

What you can learn from the Facebook IPO when setting accurate metrics.

When to Advertise like Blake Griffin Dunks

Should you be using digital advertiinsg all the time? Yes. Here's why.

Anatomy of a Display Campaign: Target Audience

Defining Measurable Media

Measurable Media is the idea that a single impression can be mapped all the way to a final end conversion.

The SOPA Anti Piracy Bill Effect on Ad Verification Tools

Draconian. Censorship. Un-American. These are a small sampling of the adjectives that the likes of Google's Eric Schmidt, Facebook representatives and social gaming powerhouse Zynga have used to describe the SOPA anti-piracy bill that will be voted on in congress tomorrow.

Don’t give up on the CTR

Minimums Matter for Maximum Results

For branded campaigns, minimums matter when buying CPM media. See why.