MindgruveMacarta Data-Driven Marketing, Creative & Commerce

Food for Your Brain.
Latest Trends and Best Practices from our Thought Leaders and Industry Experts.

SEO is Going Mobile

The rapid increase of mobile device usage in recent years has dramatically shifted search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. According to Google, more than half of all website traffic occurs via smartphones and tablets. eCommerce businesses, in other words, must now account for the fact that half of all online visitors are on their mobile…

Read More

TikTok Transitions Into eCommerce

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,…

Read More

Improve Mobile Marketing Lead Generation

Balancing the quality of leads versus quantity. Preventing abandonment. Keeping up with optimizations. When it comes to lead generation, the list of challenges goes on and on. Especially in the mobile marketing space, which has lagged behind desktop for years. Google, Facebook and LinkedIn are attempting to change course by creating a new type of…

Read More

Mindgruve Lands at No. 234 on Inc. 5000 Regional List

With Nationals fast approaching, Mindgruve has earned a coveted spot on the 2021 Inc. 5000 Regional list for California. There are five others that span the U.S., including DC Metro, Florida, Midwest, New York Metro and Texas. Each list recognizes companies in their respective state or area for innovative achievements, sustained growth and job creation—no…

Read More

A Closer Look at the Headless CMS

WordPress, Drupal, Sitecore and other traditional content management systems (CMSs) have long been considered the industry standard of website development. Also referred to as monolithic, regular or coupled, they were created to more easily manage online elements like content, images, HTML and CSS. But as brands continue to expand their content infrastructures, they need a…

Read More

Navigating a Cookieless World Part II: The Latest from Google

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…

Read More

Why Endemic Advertising Should Be Part of Your Media Mix

Also known as vertical advertising, endemic advertising refers to ad placements that are contextually relevant to the markets and websites they’re running on. While this might seem like a no-brainer, in the world of modern media endemic partners rarely come up when fleshing out a strategic media plan. The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) is…

Read More

Looking Into the Future of Television

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…

Read More

Facebook & the Apple iOS 14 Update

Apple’s iOS 14 policy update started rolling out globally in January 2021. It’s meant to protect customer data from being used without permission.  While this is a step in the right direction for consumer privacy, citing its disagreement, Facebook announced its intention to move forward with the Apple Limit Ad Tracking (LAT) prompt associated with…

Read More

Digiday Brand Summit Recap: A Consumer First Evolution

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…

Read More

The (Near) Future of Paid Social

2021, much like last year, will be filled with uncertainty for marketers. As much as we all would like to believe 2020 is far behind us, it has had a major and lasting impact on nearly every industry. Businesses of all types have pivoted their paid social strategies, which will influence consumer behavior. There are…

Read More

What’s Next for Ecommerce?

2020 was a monumental year for ecommerce.  At one point, it saw a 10-year growth in just a 90-day period. But will it stick in 2021?  Below we take a look at what elements of ecommerce are likely here to stay. Convenience As small businesses scrambled to go online and survive last year, many turned…

Read More

What Can Search Marketers Expect This Year?

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…

Read More

How SEO & Email Will Evolve in 2021

Earned media is showing no signs of slowing down. Below are some of the most prominent trends in SEO and email we’ll likely see over the course of the year.  SEO Trends Core Web Vitals – Google rolled out core web vitals in 2020, which will begin to factor into its ranking algorithm in the…

Read More

2021 Marketing Trends

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…

Read More

How to Rank on Google & Increase Market Share

“Do we outrank our competitors on Google?” It’s a question that’s often asked internally by brands, but not so easily answered for both SEM novices and veterans alike. Certainly, it’s more complicated than “Yes” or “No.” This blog post attempts to shed some light on the subject with crucial resources, strategy and tips. When implemented…

Read More

Succeeding in Amazon’s Softlines Category

Softlines is arguably one of the most competitive categories on Amazon. More and more big name apparel brands are migrating to the platform while Amazon steps up its own game with private label apparel brands as well as an influencer-designed line known as The Drop. But the saturation shouldn’t deter retailers from carving out their…

Read More

Podcast Advertising: Basics You Need to Know

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…

Read More