But what could help? Research from PulsePoint and Digiday, which found that the growth rates for both will outpace other formats within two years, suggests it’s automation technology.

“When the study asked agency and brand professionals in the UK and U.S. about barriers that were preventing them from doing more with content marketing and native advertising, lack of resources and budget to deliver high-quality content efficiently was the biggest issue, cited by 55 percent,” explains eMarketer. “Difficulty measuring and proving return on investment (ROI) was second, at half of respondents. Coming in third was the inability to target and distribute at scale.”

That’s something new technology can address.

“Six in 10 agency and brand professionals and publishers said automation tools would allow for more precise data-driven targeting, and a close 58 percent would be able to resolve the ROI issue with better measurement and optimization techniques,” notes eMarketer. “Distributing content at scale and creating quality content more quickly were also expected to be results of marketing automation. In all, just 11 percent of respondents said such tech wouldn’t improve content and native.”

While content marketing and native advertising are separate categories, they both depend on updated modes of analysis and measurement — as well as the tech that fosters better engagement and response.

“Content marketing is the message. Native can be the envelope it is delivered in,” noted the researchers. “While marketers must indeed treat each as its own, content marketing and native advertising’s strong relationship means tech will reshape both simultaneously.”

The post Automation Tech: It’s the Path to Improving Content Marketing, Native Advertising, Says Research appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

But just because an SEO strategy is frequently deployed doesn’t make it a good one.

In fact, there are many SEO strategies out there that just plain… suck. There, I said it.

“We are in something of an SEO red scare lately; SEO black hatters are ending up on Google’s Blacklist, while the benign white hatters are rewarded for smart digital marketing strategy by more clicks, page visits, conversion and customer engagement,” says Marcus McReynolds, Director of Digital Marketing for Fusion 360, an award winning digital marketing agency based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Recently, McReynolds provided an insightful rundown of the top SEO strategies that businesses should avoid like the plague. Among the biggest must-dodge tactics are:

1. Keyword confusion: “It’s not enough to make an educated guess about what clients will type in search engines to find your products,” McReynolds writes. “Utilize tools like Google Ad Words to find essential keyword information.”

2. Keyword overload: In the early days of Google, this was a routine practice. But not today. The reason? “The Google bots who crawl a keyword stuffed page will consign it to the bottom of their search engine results,” the digital marketing veteran explains. “Don’t believe us? We wish you the best on Google’s 230th page of the search result.”

3. Links, links, and more links: Go ahead. Place a few relevant links in your article. But don’t overdo it. If you stuff extraneous links into your content, the results for your SEO will be just as bad as overloading your work with excessive keywords.

To learn about other SEO strategies to avoid – cloaking, link buying, duplicate content, etc. – check out McReynolds’ full post on this subject over at the Fusion360 Blog (a resource every digital marketer should bookmark).

The post The SEO Strategies Your Business Must Avoid appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The report, which includes insights into the digital music, digital movies, digital games and mobile apps markets, reaches one critically important conclusion. Across the global landscape, digital content spend has never been bigger.

“Combining IHS and App Annie data has given us a unique view into the digital content ecosystem for 2013,” explains Jack Kent, principal analyst of mobile media at IHS Technology.

“The US has long been a powerhouse in terms of consumer spend on digital content, but we identified stand-out markets where consumers are not only monetizing better, but still have potential for growth,” Kent adds. “These include South Korea, where overall digital spend per capita is much higher than the US, or the UK, which has one of the strongest online music markets.”

Among the report’s key findings are:

• Global consumer spending on digital games, apps, and online movies passed $57 billion in 2013, up almost 30 percent from $44 billion in 2012.
• Online movies – a more mature content market – saw healthy growth, up 21 percent to reach $8 billion globally in 2013.
• The United States leads in digital content spend, while South Korea monetizes better per capita.
• Large gains in game app spend in Japan and South Korea, with 4.4x and 5.8x growth year-over-year, respectively, were a key driver of the growth in mobile apps.

The full report is free to download with registration and can be accessed here.

The post Global Digital Content Spend Reaches Record Heights appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Although Forbes had previously released apps on the App Store (Forbes Photos & Videos and Forbes lists, for example) the entire publication was not available even for casual perusal. But that reality changes today.

The new Forbes Newsstand app can be purchased either individually or through subscription. A single issue comes with a $5.99 price tag. Or that price is knocked down considerably when you sign up for a monthly subscription at $2.99 per month. A full one-year subscription will run you $29.99.

Subscribers to the print publication have the option to pay an additional $10 to gain access to the new digital version as well.

In late December, one of the longest holdouts for iOS Newsstand – the Wall Street Journal – finally relented and went digital for the sake of iPad readers. Consequently, following a lengthy bout of stubbornness on the part of the WSJ, the publication is now offering a comprehensive digital version of the paper via Apple’s paid subscription service.

To check out Forbes in the Apple App Store, get it here.

The post Forbes Finally Flows with Mobile Migration to Apple App Store appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

On Wednesday, eBook Magic raised the bar for apps aimed at creating ePub and PDF books on Apple’s hugely popular iPad.

“The newly released Version 2.01 gives its users the ability to now order professionally printed books directly from the share menu,” the company brags. “This new feature is the top request of its fan base. eBook Magic for iPad continues to uphold its original goal of easy book creation without limiting creativity with book ordering and several other new features.”

eBook Magic, a book and document creation app, can be used to make a variety of different types of books, photo albums, children’s books, etc. Some eBook Magic enthusiasts use it to generate documents and reports, or even use it as a quick slide presenter program.

“eBook Magic was designed to offer a very different workflow for book making. With the addition of our printing service, we’ve stayed true to this design goal,” says Matthew Piunno, an executive with eBook Magic. “We offer plenty of Hard/Soft Bound options, and eBook Magic users can always change their book size on-the-fly to look at pricing for smaller or larger book sizes. Our number one request from teachers, photographers, and everyday users is printed books.”

To learn more about this Chicago-based company, click here.

The post eBook Publishing Now Easy as ‘Magic’ appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The Association of American Publishers announced today that ebooks have now topped hardcover revenues for the first time in history.

And the trend doesn’t seem headed for a reversal any time soon.

From Tech Crunch:

Ebook revenues topped out at $282.3 million YTD while hardcovers hit $229.6. Almost exactly a year ago the tables were turned with ebooks hitting $220 million and hardcovers brushing past $335 million.

Incredibly, the only growth in hardcovers was observed in the young adult/children’s category. According to the AAP:

While Children’s/Young Adult physical format Hardcover and Paperback both saw strong double-digit growth (68.9% and 61.9% respectively), AAP’s first monthly data on Children’s/YA eBooks showed a massive +475.1% increase from 2011 to 2012. Some publishers have attributed this to the availability of more options for devices aimed at those demographics as well as a number of popular new releases.

All told, the publishing world (electronic and print combined) is strong.  The AAP surveyed 1,149 publishers to learn that total trade revenue spiked more than 27% during the past year.

The post eBooks Now More Profitable Than Hardcover Books appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

And then on Wednesday, Flurry took the spotlight again as Activision Publishing confirmed a strategic relationship with Flurry, the industry leading mobile application, advertising and measurement platform.

So what’s behind the partnership?

According to details announced this morning, the freshly minted colleagues will establish a new mobile publishing initiative that will identify and assist third-party developers in the development, publishing, distribution and promotion of independent titles on iOS and Android platforms.

The initiative will marry Flurry’s best-in-class mobile analytics and advertising platform with Activision’s industry experience, scale and mobile online platform, to provide developers with access to a large-scale customer base alongside best-in-industry development and monetization support. The games will be published under the Activision Mobile Publishing brand, however, the game developers will retain full IP control of their existing intellectual property.

“A world class partner such as Flurry will position Activision for mobile growth in the future and we are confident our relationship will yield significant insight into mobile development and distribution,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “Additionally, Activision and Flurry are uniquely qualified to provide mobile developers with funding, resources and unmatched marketing expertise, while also allowing them to retain their intellectual property. We are confident this relationship and our new platform will yield significant results and are excited to launch it.”

The post Flurry Making Friends in New Mobile Publishing Initiative with Activision appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google, and Sony, author J.K. Rowling’s “Pottermore” website unveiled its bookstore feature on Tuesday, with all seven titles now ready for purchase.

So why isn’t Apple involved?

Apparently, Rowling and “Pottermore” are still in talks with Apple. As of this writing, no deal has been made.

According to the WSJ:

The digital books are accessible on dedicated e-readers, tablets, personal computers and mobile phones. The first three Harry Potter titles are priced at $7.99 each, while the remaining four titles, which are longer, cost $9.99 each.

Until a deal is done – assuming that day finally comes – Apple device owners can still access the popular books through other retailer apps, like Amazon’s Kindle app for iOS.

The post Harry Potter, Now in eBook Format, Gets No Love from Apple appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The company is raising the curtain on “Project Primetime,” which Adobe is calling the “industry’s first fully integrated video technology platform.”

According to Engadget‘s Billy Steele, who soaked up a sneak peak, the new Adobe offerings will “offer television-esque viewing sessions across your web-enabled devices.”

Touting a workflow that pulls together streaming, content protection, analytics and advertising, the software will allow media providers to offer live and on-demand viewing on a number of internet-friendly devices.

Project Primetime will arrive in full later year with support for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and even Smart TVs.

“We saw 16 million digital publications downloaded over the last 12 months, with no signs of fatigue,” said Zeke Koch, senior director of product management, Digital Publishing, Adobe. “As digital issues grow significantly, Adobe will continue to fuel this evolution by providing innovative features that allow publishers and corporations worldwide to drive digital revenue, accelerated readership and purchase of content.”

To see out what Adobe has in store for the future of digital publishing, check out the video below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HErqGS2LSkY&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

The post Adobe Shakes Up Digital Publishing With Project Primetime appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Perfect Match is teaming up with Gumiyo, a provider of mobile development and mobile publishing solutions. Together the dynamic duo will combine their services on a mobile platform for publishers.

“Simple” is the word used by both companies to describe the basic nature and goals of the coupling: Gumiyo mobilizes, Perfect Market monetizes. Correspondingly, the combination of Gumiyo’s mobile platform with Perfect Market’s traffic and content optimization solutions create a better experience for mobile users and increased profits for content publishers.

While consumer adaption of mobile devices has been strong, advertising on these platforms has lagged. The combination of Perfect Market and Gumiyo allows publishers to take full advantage of mobile opportunities and moves mobile from being a “must have” for consumers to a “must have” revenue opportunity for publishers.

“Perfect Market and Gumiyo have deployed their solution on Tier 1 premium publishers and are showing record rates of mobile traffic and monetization,” explained Perfect Market CEO Julie Schoenfeld.

“Finally, publishers can generate meaningful revenue results from mobile, while having complete control over content, layout and user experience for every device” continues Gumiyo CEO Shuki Lehavi.

The post Perfect Market, Gumiyo Team Up for Mobile Content Service appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.