As we step into 2025, let’s reflect on the trends we predicted last year. Out of five forecasts, four materialized and remain relevant, while one proved overly ambitious. Here’s what we saw unfold: 1. Programmatic Sustainability Supply Path Optimization (SPO) has been a buzzword for years, but in 2024, we saw it evolve. The focus…

MindgruveMacarta has been honored with two prestigious 2024 MarCom Awards, recognizing our team’s dedication to innovative, results-driven digital marketing. Organized by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), the MarCom Awards spotlight exceptional work in creativity, strategy, and execution across marketing and communications. MindgruveMacarta is named alongside world-class brands like PepsiCo, IBM, Turkish Airlines,…

MindgruveMacarta had the privilege of attending Amazon UnBoxed 2024, an event where Amazon’s latest tools and strategies for brands, agencies, and advertisers took center stage. This year, Amazon emphasized a commitment to making its tools Simple, Scalable, and Inspiring—ensuring that powerful data and insights are now accessible to stakeholders at all types and sizes of…

MindgruveMacarta sent three team members to Digital Summit Atlanta 2024. We delved into insightful sessions focused on navigating the evolving marketing landscape in an AI-driven world. With industry experts sharing their knowledge on everything from content strategy to SEO optimization, the conference offered valuable perspectives on how to engage today’s consumers effectively. We’ve compiled the…

Last month, MindgruveMacarta had the opportunity to attend Digiday’s Retail Strategies conference in New York, where industry leaders gathered to discuss the latest innovations and trends in retail media and digital marketing. The event offered invaluable insights into how brands are shaping their media strategies to succeed in an increasingly complex retail environment. Below are…

Last month, MindgruveMacarta traveled to Seattle to attend Amazon Accelerate, Amazon’s premier annual seller conference. This event brought together sellers, advertisers, and industry leaders to explore the latest innovations and strategies designed to drive success on the platform. From cutting-edge fulfillment solutions to AI-driven advertising tools, the conference offered a glimpse into Amazon’s evolving ecosystem….

Digital marketing is constantly evolving. Just when you think you have a handle on SEO, a new player steps onto the field. Enter Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): the latest evolution that promises to change the way we think about search. But what exactly is GEO, and why should it matter to you? Let’s break it…

Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that Google violated antitrust laws in a landmark case that the Department of Justice brought against the tech giant. Today we are going to explore what this means for advertisers. Any company that spends money on Google Ads should look into some of the details of the case,…

On August 2nd, MindgruveMacarta will be celebrating the anniversary of Mercado Libre, a retail media and ecommerce giant in Latin America that has shaped how we buy, sell, and do business. Founded in Argentina in 1999, Mercado Libre has grown to operate in 18 countries, emerging as one of Latin America’s leading ecommerce platforms. Originally…

It’s no surprise that Retail Media is growing faster than almost any other form of ad spend, with a growth of 22% this last year alone. The adoption of retail media has gained extra momentum in the past few years by the continuing deprecation of third-party cookie tracking, and more stringent privacy frameworks. Since first-party…

MindgruveMacarta attended Digiday’s Programmatic Summit in Palm Springs last month. Here’s a rundown of our key takeaways:  1. Navigating the Cookieless Future Cookie deprecation being pushed out by Google doesn’t make cookieless strategies and pivots less urgent. We already see major data loss in ad servers that rely on cookies for attribution and from channels that…

The biggest weeks of online sales are fast approaching, and it’s time to get prepared. We’re talking about Prime Day, Walmart Plus Week, and Target Circle Week — all happening simultaneously this summer. While most deadlines for deal submissions have already passed, there’s still time to refine your strategy and ensure you’re ready to make…

Part 1: Setting the Foundation for Success in Marketing Financial Products & Services on Google To pay or not to pay for marketing traffic — that is the question. Will customers find you if you don’t pay for traffic from Google? Will you lose customers to larger competitors? Worse, will you lose them to an…

When you help the public with their hard-earned money, there are a special set of rules to follow. You have an internal compliance team responsible for ensuring that all marketing materials accurately portray the products and services you offer. When it comes to Google Ads and search platforms, it’s important to understand how to apply…

Mindgruve attended Digiday’s recent Programmatic Marketing Summit in New Orleans, which served as a melting pot for industry leaders, igniting discussions on industry readiness, Google’s role, challenges beyond cookies, novel uses of AI, the complexities of retail media networks, and the surprising prominence of the creator economy. In this comprehensive recap, we explore key insights,…

Thanks to ChatGPT, AI – both its benefits and controversies – have been in the news for the past year. We discussed how Microsoft Ads is leveraging AI, and touched on Google’s Bard. In today’s post, we’ll discuss where you can leverage AI immediately within Google’s environment, and when you should be cautious with AI. …

In the dynamic world of digital advertising, there’s a powerful player quietly reshaping the landscape: retail media networks. Once overshadowed by colossal platforms like Google and Facebook, today’s major retailers are stepping into the limelight. As consumers increasingly turn to e-commerce for their shopping needs, they are often met with tailored ads right at their…

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, social media marketers must navigate a vast amount of data, ever-changing trends, and complex user behaviors. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm. Tools like ChatGPT are great for a quick brainstorming session or gut-check. Embracing GenAI is no longer an option though,…

SEO isn’t always the top priority of many marketing strategies. The value it can bring to the business is commonly misunderstood by those less familiar with SEO. It’s an honest mistake. The return on investment isn’t as clear-cut when compared to marketing channels like paid search or social media, but the value is undeniable with…

Audio Time Spent Growth By next year, a fifth of all time spent with interactive digital media in the US will go to digital audio. Spotify will take up almost an hour per day this year, and Pandora will take 48 minutes. Over half of digital audio listeners are tuning in to podcasts at least…

Threads is Meta’s newest social product. It was built by Instagram and is a text-sharing app and Twitter competitor. Threads offers a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations. Just like on Instagram, Threads users can follow and connect with friends, creators, and brands.  Threads is the name for both the app as…

Facebook Conversions API has become the new solution to tracking data since Apple’s iOS 14 privacy update was rolled out in April 2021. This made it mandatory for users to opt in or out of allowing Facebook to track their behavior across websites and apps owned by different businesses. If someone decides to opt out…

In the age of social media and instant news updates, companies need to be prepared to respond to crises quickly and effectively. The results of a new study found that less than half of surveyed U.S. companies have a formal crisis communication plan in place. This lack of preparation can lead to disastrous consequences—for both…

Last year, Google Ads made buzzworthy pushes that focused heavily on automation and AI. While this certainly proves the realm of paid search and digital marketing is advancing, advertisers are wary of the changes – and for good reason as machine learning should not fully be entrusted to do the entirety of the job. Additionally,…

Launched during the COVID-19 pandemic with the intention of spreading helpful information on wellness topics, Instagram Guides curates related posts into a condensed blog-like model. Guides can be formatted to highlight collections of posts, products, or places for followers to explore on the app.  This easy-to-navigate feature is located under its own tab on any…

Recapping 2022  Before laying out our expectations for digital marketing this year, let’s first take a journey back to see how digital marketing predictions for 2022 fared. We were optimistic about digital spend, which was proven correct. eMarketer projected +12% and we saw +12.5% driven by paid search and display (including rich media, video, and…

Paid search, whether Google or Microsoft Ads, is a channel that powers many businesses. The ability to target individuals by the keywords they are searching, layering on geo targets, demographics, type of device, and more offers a powerful tool for the marketer. Both Microsoft and Google Ad platforms have continued to evolve in the race…

Affiliate marketing is a cost-effective way for brands, both big and small, to promote their products and services. But what exactly is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing where publishers earn a commission by promoting a product or service made by another retailer (or advertiser) using an affiliate link. The affiliate…

A workflow diagram is an important component of building successful email campaigns. What are Diagrams? A diagram is a tool that organizations need to understand the connections and flows in their email marketing campaigns. Diagrams can be complex — involving hundreds of connections to external systems — or they can be simple, running on automations…

The growth of ecommerce sales coming out of the 2020 pandemic contributed to the fastest retail spend growth rate in 20 years, reaching upwards of 16% in 2021. This increase in spend was shown most profitable during the 2021 holiday season, with Black Friday sales growing 3% to hit $10.9 billion, and Thanksgiving sales growing…

It’s never too early to get a headstart on your holiday marketing plan. Last year, 31% of shoppers began searching for products as early as June. As an advertiser, your plan should align with the trend of holiday shoppers starting earlier year after year. Shoppers have also become increasingly aware of global supply chain issues…

Pinterest differs from other social media platforms in that its users aren’t updating their peers about changes in their lives. Instead, they’re sharing new ideas and interests through ‘pinning’ videos, photos, and lifestyle inspiration visuals to their pages. Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media platforms, allowing marketers to leverage a large market…

In 2010, QR codes were popular among consumers, but since mobile technology wasn’t as advanced then, they fell out of use. Since the beginning of the pandemic, however, the popularity of QR codes has surged, in large part because businesses have been relying on them to streamline processes and maintain contactless interaction with customers. In…

The concept of hashtags was first introduced to Twitter back in 2007. Their purpose was to index keywords or topics, which still holds true to this day. This strategy was so well received that other social networks have adopted it, and it plays a key role in any social media marketing strategy. Although the use…

After postponing to remove 3rd party tracking cookies from Chrome in 2022 to 2023, it took Google less than a year to drop FLoC after much negative industry feedback (privacy concerns, lack of attribution, it’s a black box, along with other worries), and announced their new replacement, Topics API in January of this year.  What…

Not sure what the Metaverse even is? Don’t worry, we weren’t totally sure either once Mark Zuckerberg released Meta (formerly known as Facebook) and created an entire universe online. With an emphasis on social connection, this could be the newest way our real world and digital spaces intertwine.  Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, launched Meta…

Social media plays an integral part in your company’s overall marketing and communication strategy. Having a social media presence helps you build brand awareness and acts as a gateway of communication that portrays your organization’s message. As your company grows its online presence, social engagement increases, and criticism and negative comments tend to be inevitable….

For years, retailers have advertised by buying ad placements across the web to promote their overall brand, products, and deals. However, in the past few years, retailers like Lowe’s and Best Buy are jumping on to a trend that we only expect to see increase throughout 2022: the rise of retailer media networks. Now, instead…

As Youtube continues to grow in size and value, the Google-owned company is consistently testing new ways to help brands reach their target audience through advertising. Youtube advertising has become one of the largest centers for digital ads right after Facebook and Amazon, with reported ad revenue of $20 billion last year alone. In order…

What is Nextdoor? Nextdoor is a social media platform that offers exclusive, local neighborhood updates where users exchange helpful information, goods and services. Nextdoor is unique from other social media platforms through its verification process; all Nextdoor users have to verify their address before joining to ensure that they receive content related to their specific…

Black Friday / Cyber Monday 2021 Ecomm Tips   Encourage and collect as many customer reviews as possible. Shoppers that thoroughly research products before making a purchase will be less likely to buy your products if you lack truthful customer reviews. BF and CM (Black Friday and Cyber Monday) sales have increased consecutively over the…

Communication at the Core of Project Management Project Management is a bit like a dance – knowing when to lead, when to follow, when to focus on budgets, timelines and details, and when to connect with others on a personal level. It’s an artform that a few will come by naturally, others will develop and…

Facebook Boosted Posts and How They Differ From Paid Ads Facebook boosted posts offer businesses a way to ensure that their organic social media content is seen by more users. Boosting posts differs from paid ads in that all of the engagement metrics happen on a post on the brand’s profile. Additionally, paid ad campaigns…

According to PR Newswire, 800 press releases are sent out via their service every day in the United States. WIth all of the noise, it’s hard to make your press release stand out. Here are 12 press release tips that will ensure your press release gets the most coverage. Press Release Dos Create a click-worthy…

The pandemic – and its associated lockdowns and stay-at-home orders – have caused ecommerce to rise to an all time high. And with the increase in direct-to-consumer sales comes a strain on shippers and retailers to meet the growing expectations of consumers who want their orders fast, cheap, and environmentally friendly.  Yet, even as communities…

Google recently announced that its responsive search ads (RSA), which debuted just a few years ago, will now serve as the default format in Google Ads. Moving forward, advertisers can expect prompts to create them first instead of the longstanding expanded text ads (ETA). On the surface this seems to be an innocuous Google Ads…

To better compete in the social atmosphere, the fast-growing app TikTok has been making strides towards increasing their eCommerce options. As users have increased their daily TikTok usage since the app launched in 2016, brands and small businesses have profited largely from viral trends. According to an annual report of 2020 taken by App Annie,…

Recently, we took a look into the near future at a Cookieless world and explored what cookieless tracking could mean for brands and their customers. In part two of this blog series, we break down Google’s recent announcement that solidified its approach.  What did we already know?  Google will be phasing out third-party Cookies on…

2020 drastically shifted the baselines of TV viewership. What did we learn and what’s to come with next-generation TV experiences? The adoption of in-home lifestyle across work, fitness and entertainment is here to stay. In 2020, the TV industry saw several years of disruption and innovation compressed into just a few short months. “COVID has…

Mindgruve joined Digiday’s 2021 Brand Summit in January, which focused on marketing industry evolutions. The biggest marketing themes, more specifically, were bracing for change and putting the consumer first. After 2020, the industry won’t return to a pre-Covid normalcy. Brands will need to adapt, while staying true to who they are.  Theme 1: Listen to…

2020 was a wild year for search marketers.  Some had to adapt to never-before-seen scenarios and realign their search campaigns accordingly. Others paused efforts altogether as industries collapsed under the weight of the pandemic. And still others doubled and tripled down on spend to capitalize on new search marketing opportunities. Needless to say, the search…

What can marketers expect in 2021? We won’t ring in the New Year and step into a new world of marketing, although there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. Especially when the bar has been set so low the past 12 months. eMarketer projects total media ad spend in the US will be down…

2020 could be considered the Year of the Podcast. With lockdowns affecting millions across the US, people have been turning to alternative forms of entertainment. This is especially true of podcasts, both listening and launching their own. According to eMarketer, listenership is estimated to double by the end of 2020 to 105.6 million and grow…

Historically, the cost of digital advertising increases at the end of each year due to retailers capitalizing on gift-giving holidays and major retail sales events such as Black Friday. Adding the effects of the pandemic to the mix in 2020, the cost may be higher than anything the industry has experienced.  In the past six…

After covering how to monitor on- and off-page SEO efforts in the first two posts,“How to Monitor Technical SEO Efforts” is the last of a three-part series that emphasizes the importance of maximizing the ROI of these critical tactics.  What is Technical SEO? Technical SEO covers the specialized steps taken to help Google’s algorithm effectively…

The Google ecosystem exists to present the most relevant information to a user. One of the most effective ways is Google Ad extensions. These unique ad formats are about one thing: providing additional information, which empowers a user to self-select where on an advertiser’s website they would like to land. Since their introduction, Google has…

Amazon accounts for 40% of all US online retail sales, according to eMarketer. That was pre-pandemic and since then Amazon reported a 25% sales increase YoY in Q1 with stock up 45%. Its brand value is now worth more than $415 billion, according to Kantar and WPP. These staggering statistics mean brands must balance their…

Voice search tops nearly every list of 2020 marketing trends. However, there are still a number of questions that surround the trending technology and how it will shape the future of marketing. Specifically, SEO. We break down the truth about voice search, how it’s changing SEO and optimization best practices for the impending voice search…

Twenty years after its introduction, advertising via programmatic buying is now widely considered effective, efficient and reliable. In fact, with capabilities like real time data and insights, immediate placements and hyper-focused targeting, advertisers in the U.S. are expected to spend $84 billion on programmatic campaigns in 2019 alone. Mindgruve’s media team is well versed in…

Creating a successful marketing plan is about finding balance. Balance between tactics that drive massive awareness and tactics that engage potential consumers at a deeper level. When seeking reach, it’s not uncommon for marketers to experience limits to the scale of effectiveness when utilizing popular digital tactics such as  banners, native or social ads. While…

Each month, we recap the biggest industry news by rounding up a handful of can’t-miss articles. In September, we saw tech giants spend big on television, heard a call for marketers to refocus on awareness, noticed missed opportunities on YouTube and more. Why Tech Giants Like Google and Amazon Are Spending Big On TV Ads…

1. Digital ad spend is on par with TV now. The balance shifted faster than expected and digital spend will likely exceed TV next year. Spend isn’t moving away from TV to digital, but rather from Print and Local media, according to eMarketer. For the digital space, we’re seeing a consolidation of tech and publishing…

What is programmatic TV? As Digiday.com explains, programmatic TV is “[t]he technology automated and data driven way to buy and deliver ads against TV content. This includes digital TV ads served across web, mobile devices and connected TV.” But how does programmatic TV buying actually work? What are the benefits? And if it is all that great,…

Facebook is uniting efforts with several partners, including email marketing platform Mailchimp, to help small and medium businesses take advantage of their digital potential. On June 4th, the Boost Your Business with Facebook half-day conference stopped in San Diego. And of course Mindgruve had to be there! Expert panelists, guests, partners and the Facebook team…

Introducing Google’s New Mobile Guidelines & Tools It’s no longer a surprise, we all know that online mobile usage is growing at the speed of light and quickly taking over desktop usage across industries. As a result, mobile search and mobile applications are the first touchpoints between users and brands. 2014 was already announced as…

Every marketer encounters the battle of deciding where to put his or her digital marketing dollars. Do you choose to run a desktop-only campaign? Is mobile and tablet-specific targeting really worth it? Here are seven simple reasons why mobile marketing can increase your brand’s ROI.

To put it simply, we’re living in the age of screens. Screens of all sizes, of different operating systems, and all have their own set of rules for mobile content. According to a study done by Business Insider, the global smart phone penetration exploded from 5% in 2009 to 22% by the end of 2013….

As a person slightly addicted to social media and a professional social media consultant, I tend to be browsing through my networks every other waking hour (I wish this were an exaggeration). My supervisor kindly refers to me as a “power user.” However, I’m not the general population of social media users. Most tend to…

Author’s note: Warning! This article contains some Game of Thrones spoilers. Brace yourselves, San Diego. Comic-Con is coming. Whether you’re a visitor to our beautiful city or a local dreading the imminent Gaslamp traffic, you probably noticed that San Diego’s Gaslamp district is slowly transforming into a media planner’s dream. Storefronts will begin transforming into…

If you subscribe to HBO (or are lucky enough to have a friend or family member who is more than willing to lend you their HBO Go login information), you may be a fan of the crime drama, True Detective, created and written by Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. Though its first…

We understand the importance of keeping our finger on the pulse of emerging trends in digital marketing. For instance, though investment in digital is growing, only 25% of a marketing budget is used for online efforts. Of course, we anticipate these investments to grow even bigger as consumers turn to technology and thus are changing…

Resolution#1: Focus on Quality Content 2013 was a busy year for Google: several additional Panda and Penguin updates targeting low quality content and spam link schemes, as well as the release of the new Hummingbird algorithm which focuses on relevancy and understanding users’ search intents. Topped with the continued rise of not provided keyword data…

Email marketing saw some big milestones this year. Yahoo announced it would begin recycling  inactive email addresses older than one year. Outlook.com graduated from beta and replaced Hotmail’s web email service. Google brought tabs to millions of inboxes. Litmus hosted the first ever Email Design Conference. And just last week, we learned Google will begin…

As customers today expect to find more discounts and deals during the holiday season, it’s imperative that you develop and implement a long standing strategy to stay relevant. Seasonal marketing involves incorporating climate trends into your strategy in order to drive more sales or traffic to your website at specific times of the year. As…

Lately, buzz phrase, “content marketing,” has been circulating around the marketing world. Everyone is hoping to achieve the ideal content marketing strategy, yet some strategists are still trying to figure out the exact formula to achieve the best results. It’s a trial-and-error world out there, but it all begins with a solid foundation to kick-off…

Dunkin Donuts, Jack in the Box, Subway… agency? Franchises aren’t just for food anymore –with chain shops popping up around the US, media outlets are beginning to take interest in this unconventional format. In a recent AdAge article, Alexandra Bruell delves into the franchise model with a focus on ViaMark, an East Coast-based agency that…

LinkedIn recently announced an interesting extension to its services: As of September 12, the popular business-centric social network is open to high school students age 14 and older. With access to a myriad of professional resources, this is a great opportunity for the younger generation to develop a stronger drive to succeed. At the same…

It’s a beautiful day in the social media marketing neighborhood – Facebook has eliminated its longtime, relatively stringent regulations on promotions. Now, running contests can happen right on brand Timelines, making the entire process much more simple and cost-effective. As of this week, brands no longer need to use third-party contest apps like Wildfire and…

Comic-Con has converted the entire downtown San Diego into a branded frenzy. There are some memorable building front transformations, and then there’s head-scratching advertising running amok around the Gaslamp District.

Rewind back a handful of years and the only true distraction from watching your favorite show was your kid sibling incessantly poking you to change the channel. Now, with the advent of mobile technology, watching TV without your trusty iPhone to tweet out your reactions to that crazy episode of Breaking Bad seems something of…

Four years after eliminating its own native feature, Twitter has outlawed the ability to auto follow through third-party services. This “immediate and programmatic means of following another user back after they follow you,” as described by TechCrunch, was a longtime staple for social media climbers and brands alike until Twitter severed ties in an unassuming…

As marketers, we’re all told call-to-actions (CTAs) are a must when grabbing someone’s attention. For example, did you know that including “please retweet” within your tweet significantly drives more retweets than not including it at all? Dan Zarrella from HubSpot presents an infographic (see below) detailing the stats on various common CTAs on Facebook, Twitter, and…

Let’s be real – Facebook Edgerank can be… tricky. That’s why this infographic from PostRocket is so great. It puts the ins and outs of Edgerank in plain English and harnesses the help of the Dark Knight himself – can’t hate on that. Read up and you’ll be an expert faster than you can say,…

Thinking about ditching your brand’s email marketing strategy? Think again – email isn’t just thriving; it’s on the up-and-up. Open rates are up by 14% and newsletters still prove to be an essential tool for pushing readers toward converting, whether that means making a purchase or setting up a meeting. Check out this infographic from…

Nestlé, Domino’s, and United Airlines all have one thing in common – they’ve experienced major, attention-grabbing PR blunders. How each brand handled their crises and recovered, on the other hand, is very different. SDL Social Intelligence takes a closer look at what it takes to effectively bounce back from a PR misstep – and what…

I had the fantastic opportunity to attend Social Media Examiner’s first Social Media Marketing World conference here in San Diego this past week. For the very first conference put on by the blogging giant, SMMW was beyond impressive — not only with the caliber of speakers, but also the networking opportunities available to us. With…

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ll have noticed an increase in visuals throughout all your favorite social media platforms, including Facebook’s imminent newsfeed design overhaul. Videos, pictures, and other visual content have been taking over all our social feeds and *gasp* we’ve actually been taking notice of all this visual content. It’s more engaging and…

It’s no secret Facebook reigns supreme in the social networking world, but who knew its  numbers could form the world’s third-largest country? Keep reading for more facts on Facebook’s rise to power, brought to you by Indus Net.

Just because Pinterest is full of pretty pictures doesn’t mean it can’t have a strategy! Since a Pinterest page is going to represent your business online, each pin should be carefully chosen to avoid a mis-pin. Read below to see how you can fully optimize the world of Pinterest. Infographic from ZogDigital.

Anyone who has attended or produced a big-time industry event knows how important it is to keep related information at a constant on key social networks. From the attendee standpoint, sharing thoughts, quotes, and event highlights gets you involved in a bigger industry conversation, allows you to see different points of view, and has the…

Did you know that there are 625,000 new users on Google+? Some may think Google+ doesn’t compete with the social media powerhouses (read: Twitter and Facebook). However, that stat alone says that the user base is growing and happy to try out a new social media platform. To learn more about how users actually utilize…

Facebook’s “Like” is one powerful little button, especially when it comes to marketing on social media. Although savvy marketers know it’s not all about the “Like,” there’s no question it still has a big influence over everything we do. Want to dig deeper into this enigmatic Facebook feature? Take a browse through the below Boostlikes.com…

Earlier this week, I learned about the University of California’s increased marketing efforts to promote their available online courses. Here is an excerpt: “In an effort to show off its array of online courses, the University of California has poured millions of dollars into promoting its UC Online system. But as the San Francisco Chronicle…

Convergence of direct response and branding media campaigns Marketers have placed a wall between these two types of campaigns, but in reality, they are both aimed at one primary goal: reaching a customer and influencing their decision-making to drive sales for the product or service that we are advertising.  While direct response and branding campaigns…

It seems like each day, this industry of ours is changing and developing. From the start of a mobile revolution to an explosion in crowdfunding, 2012 was one transformative year, and 2013 is bound to be an even more powerful game changer. Although it’s impossible to predict everything that will make its way onto our…

It’s “Twitter with a business plan.” It’s “the ultimate ‘mashup’ of other (social media) sites.” It’s Pheed. Social media’s newest addition, launched in October 2012, is getting hashtags flying and controversy stirring (more on that later)—so, what’s this newcomer all about?

Google’s Search Makeover In March 2012, Google announced through the Wall Street Journal that its algorithm and search results will be undergoing a makeover using semantic search technology. It is the biggest change in the company’s history and could affect millions of websites over the next few years. Semantic search refers to the process of…

Why You Should Integrate Email + Social Media Marketing/There has been lots of social media buzz lately, especially with the release of Google+ and Facebook’s redesigned layout announcement.

Behavior Targeted Advertising is About to Blow Up/Amazon announced in late June 2011 that they will be jumping into the advertising industry, and you can be sure that other online retailers will follow.

The Struggle Between SEO & PR/The battle between SEO and PR has been occurring for quite some time now and we’ve decided to see if we can bring some sense to this altercation.

3 Big Brand Campaigns to Learn From on Foursquare/The location based social networking site Foursquare is a major player in the social media world today and doesn’t intend to lose that position.

Mindgruve’s 7 Steps to Successful Business Blogging/In our industry, we have the ability to reach consumers through a number of digital mediums on the internet – websites, photos, emails, mobile, etc.

Mobile Advertising Part 1: In-App Advertising/Mobile advertising is becoming an integral part of advertising strategies due to the fact that it can conveniently reach consumers right in the palm of their hands.

Forecasting 2011: Mindgruve’s Top 3 Predictions/As 2010 comes to a close, we’re recapping and looking forward to what 2011 will bring.

In honor of National Coupon Month, we tip our hats to the rapidly growing trend of digital coupons. With constantly evolving technology and multiple communication channels, the delivery of digital coupons is quickly becoming key in creating customer loyalty. Companies that provide coupons to consumers and foster relationships across channels including email, online hubs, social…

For years, television has seen a steady ratings decline for prime time slots and major event broadcasts. Naturally, the consistent surge of websites (especially social ones) has been blamed, but the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics may be proving that trend incorrect. Earlier this year, televised events coupled with online campaigns and social media engagement, such…

As the Mindgruve gang dispersed over the holidays, we still had one job to do: Think about what will affect our industry most in 2010. When we all got back, we found our top three. 1. SEOcial Media With the recent upgrades by Google and Bing to integrate Facebook and Twitter posts into search results,…

SEO Breakdown Let’s face it, these days everyone is “connected”, whether it be through our various social networks,cell phones, blogs or Twitter accounts. And the one common thread that all of these connectors have is the importance of SEO to get information out and drive traffic in. Search engine optimization (SEO) helps to improve the…