All You Need to Know About Digital Advertising
This article should be titled “All You Need to Know About Digital Advertising…Today.” There may be a subtle nuance of change tomorrow, the introduction of new online platforms next year, and a paradigm shift in the years to follow.
For business owners, this might seem like an overwhelming amount of information to decipher but for digital advertising strategists, it is literally a day at the office, a very dynamic, robust office. Digital advertising paired with multichannel marketing changed the way businesses targeted consumers and the way consumers reacted to and paid for products and services.
In the past, only well-established businesses and large corporations were able to allocate a portion of their budgets for advertising on television, radio, and in print. It was expensive, exclusive, and financially and creatively out of reach for the average business. Most were fortunate just to be able to advertise seasonally or during sales events. Really small businesses often languished because they had neither the funds nor the expertise to create any kind of effective advertising campaign. Relying on word of mouth was effective to an extent but was never enough to make a significant dent in the marketplace, especially when popular brands and big-box stores flooded the competition.
Enter digital advertising. The onset of this technology leveled the playing field and made room for any business to reap the benefits of a targeted digital marketing strategy augmented by multichannel marketing fueled by strategic analysis of the marketplace.
Where the Story Begins
The mighty triumvirate of TV, radio, and print took a big hit when digital advertising hit the ground running and never looked back. As technology advanced, most specifically with the use of personal computers, and then with tablets and smartphones, the advertising capabilities exploded. At first, consumers were inundated with the randomness of pop-up ads, but then as the internet became more refined, so did its ability to target a specific audience with relevant ads laden with appealing content.
Once social media platforms like Facebook became rooted in daily consumer behavior digital advertising was elevated to the data analysis precision business owners enjoy today as they can get their well-crafted message to whom they want to target.
Digital Marketing Strategy for the Savvy Business Owner
Your marketing approach should include enlisting the expertise of those digital strategists whose skills lie in analyzing the data produced by the online behavior and digital channels used by your target audience. Without this ads might as well still be random and useless. CDMG does not want that for you or your customers. We strive to employ the latest in strategic analysis, sifting through the vital information revealed by algorithms across multiple channels and pinpointing where your message will elicit the most impact.
A multichannel marketing approach will allow your business to reach exactly who you want to target because you will know what they plan to buy and when. A diverse yet consistent message will appear in the form of text, images, audio, and video. These formats are the foundation of your content, and we are experts in knowing how to use each for your selected digital platforms.
We know you have a certain familiarity with many of the platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. In addition to those regular players, CDMG will also include in this online strategy the use of email, search engines, mobile apps, and your business’s website. The possibilities of content and configurations may appear endless, but we only utilize what will effectively build awareness of your brand and drive sales.
Additional trends to consider in your marketing strategy include sponsored content and native ads to allow consumers to engage with content but without feeling like their online experience includes the intrusion of perceived advertising. The power of Google and YouTube continue to lead the charge as premier search engines.
Relatively new players in the often-instant gratification online world include newcomers like TikTok, a short-form video site that boasts significant popularity but may be a data risk for users. This brings up the element of cybersecurity and should be part of the conversation as you map out a digital advertising strategy.
Where Do We Go from Here?
Online. We go online and take advantage of the enormity of the internet and its ability to build brand awareness, drive consumers to purchase products and services as well as share their behaviors within their social networks.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the future of digital advertising, while always evolving with the latest technology, is still a rock-solid source of marketing that we know can markedly influence the success of your business.
At what stage are you with your digital advertising strategy? Are you a novice sifting through Google ads and social media platforms trying to determine the most effective marketing approach? Or are you up to date with the latest trends and how they connect you with your audience? Wherever you are along your digital marketing journey, CDMG wants to hear from you. Call us today for a strategy session!
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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how much I wish we were taught in school how to interact with people online (and just how to use the internet in general) and then I remembered that I can type.
So, without further ado, I present…
How to Argue with People on the Internet
A (sort of) comprehensive guide on discussing everything from world peace to your blorbos
Forewordwarning: This is a long (but hopefully useful and entertaining) post. You have been warned.
SECTION I: The Decision
I have read SO many posts that essentially say “want to stop getting annoyed and fighting strangers? Just don’t! Simply do not!” and if that works for you? Fantastic! That is commendable and I salute you for it and I’m only a little bit jealous. (Okay, maybe more than a little bit jealous.) But if you’re like me—an absolute yapper, that is— you will likely find yourself in quite a few situations where you simply must yap. The urge is too strong. The stupidity of this collection of pixels on your screen that may or may not be the vessel for another human somewhere in the world is too much and you just have to tell them so. I understand. I will not tell you to hold back. I will, however, advise that before engaging with any individuals, you follow a few simple steps that I like to call “RAT”— otherwise known as Rest, Analyze, and Type.
Let’s say, for a moment, that you’ve just run into a comment hating on your favorite character in your favorite TV show. Yes, that one. You want to reply—but wait—you’ve just remembered to use RAT first! You intelligent human, you.
First, you REST. You take a moment to bookmark the comment (whether mentally or literally is up to you) and you step away from your phone (or you do what I do and look at that one youtube video of a parrot asking Alexa to fart 939472 times, you know the one) and you wait. Is this comment something you’re willing to take time out of your day to handle? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with deciding that it is, in fact, worth it— but it’s important to consider it first. You won’t ever have time to talk about the things you’re actually passionate about if you reply to every comment that bothers you. (Trust me— I’ve been there.)
Now, if you’ve decided to continue, reopen the comment and ANALYZE. This can mean many different things depending on the situation: is this comment generated by an AI? Is this person expressing a genuine opinion, or are they a troll? Have other people argued with them? If so, how did they respond? These are all important questions to ask, but it’s okay if you don’t know the answers to all of them. Just get the best information you can; you can always come back to this step later.
Finally, it’s time to TYPE. Let those words fly, friend! You tell ‘em!
SECTION II: Debating vs Fighting
So, you’ve RATted it up, and now you’ve decided it’s time to yap. But how to go about this? Should you be aggressive? Appeal to the enemy? What to do? Don’t worry, I’ve got another acronym for you! It’s time to take MOUSE into account: Motive, Openness, Understanding, Success, and Education.
First, think about your own MOTIVE. What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to change the other person’s mind? Are you unconcerned with changing their mind, instead going in with the intention to change the minds of others who might be reading through the conversation? Do you not care about changing anyone’s mind and simply want to discuss the topic at hand? All of these are valid, but they’re all very different. Deciding what your goal is prior to replying is one of the most important things about debating, whether it’s over the internet or face-to-face.
Once you’ve got that cleared up, it’s time to consider your OPENNESS and UNDERSTANDING. How open are you to potentially having your mind changed? Can you see a piece of truth in the other side of the argument? Do you understand where the commenter is coming from, or are they just being ridiculous? It’s okay to have opinions you aren’t open to changing on a whim— everyone has core beliefs that shape who they are as people. But sometimes looking at the other side through a lens of open-mindedness and a desire to understand is the most effective thing you can do. Give it a try— the worst thing that happens is the other person being just as bad as you thought they were.
Next, it’s time to address SUCCESS. What would succeeding look like here? This is similar to MOTIVE, but now we’re looking at the potential completion of the debate. What is the outcome you’re striving for?
Finally, EDUCATION. Is this a fact-based topic you want to educate people about, or is it purely opinion-driven? Either is fine, but if it’s fact-based, you should brush up on the facts of the situation— you don’t want to be caught in a lie and potentially humiliated, I hope. Also, misinformation on the internet is a huge issue. But mostly the humiliation thing.
Section III: Tips and Tricks
My last acronym contains an assortment of tips and tricks for internet usage and communication: Consent, Anonymity, Privacy, Yapping, Blocking, Apps, Reason, and Ability (CAPYBARA).
One of the most important things in life and on the internet is CONSENT. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to ask permission to voice your opinions— just that you should take into consideration the actual, living person on the other side of the screen. (Unless you’re arguing with an AI, in which case I suppose it probably doesn’t care much one way or the other). Ask before you DM people unless they state that their DMs are open. If someone blocks you, DO NOT make another account to harass them (yes, even if they’re really terrible). Consent online may look different than it does in real life, but it still follows the same ground rule: when in doubt, ASK.
ANONYMITY is another important thing to consider when you’re surfing among the virtual tides. Remember that even if someone displays their real name and picture on a website, you still don’t know them. They could be someone entirely different from the persona they’ve put up on the internet, and that’s okay. We all act differently depending on the situations and settings we’re in, and that’s dialed waaaay up when social media allows us to literally customize ourselves into what we want other people to see. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat people as if they’re real, but it does mean that you should take everything with a grain of salt— especially if someone is being an absolute jerk.
Okay, PRIVACY is the one section in here that anyone under a certain age probably did learn in class— along with its annoying younger cousin, PIRACY (you wouldn’t steal a CAR, would you?) You probably know by now that you shouldn’t share personal data online, so I won’t go into this one too much in this post. There are a billion textbooks about it, and as important as it is, it’s not something I’m really qualified to cover. Just don’t do anything stupid and you should be fine.
YAPPING— everyone’s favorite thing to do on the internet! For the most part, this is a reminder that you should have fun. If you feel like you can’t yap about your interests in the space you’re in, maybe you should relocate— whether that’s to a different app, a different blog, or even just to a different comment section is up to you. You should feel free to voice your opinions and talk about the things you love (within reason—don’t get yourself on an FBI watchlist—but you get the idea).
BLOCKING is one of the most underrated features on many social media apps. There is absolutely nothing wrong with blocking someone and moving on. It doesn’t make you a coward; it makes you someone who values your own time and safety. You are never obligated to argue with someone just because they said so. And—this is one of my favorite internet secrets—you can block people you agree with. If someone’s posts are well-meaning and useful, but they upset you or make you uncomfortable? You can still block them, or mute/restrict them if the app you’re using allows it. You are not a bad person for not wanting to see things that upset you in your day-to-day life. You can support good causes without reading about tragedies every morning. Digging yourself into a depressive hole isn’t going to help anything. Please, please use the block button. It’s there for a reason.
APPS are another variable you should consider when catering your online experience. For instance, you can make a nuanced post on Tumblr and more realistically expect reasonable replies because you aren’t confined to a tiny amount of characters. Trying to express the same point on Twitter, however, likely risks people getting extremely angry at you due to the nature of the app not allowing nuanced conversations. That’s not to say Tumblr is necessarily superior— just that they’re different areas with different setups. The reason Twitter is so no-nuance a lot of the time isn’t just due to the people— the app is deliberately set up so that users can’t make multiple points in one post. This also attracts people who don’t want to have nuanced conversations, which feeds the cycle. This is an (extremely oversimplified) explanation of why most social media apps feel so separate from each other, even if you follow all the same people. You should know your audience—but you should also know your stage.
It’s important to have a certain amount of REASON and common sense when you’re talking to someone about the skrunkly little guys in your favorite movie. It’s not that you can’t be passionate—I once essentially made an entire powerpoint presentation about why I think my opinion about a fictional cat person is the correct one—but you need to remember that not everything is the same level of seriousness. Expressing an opinion about whether Team Rocket are actually villains is not the same thing as expressing an opinion about the upcoming US election. (Though I think Team Rocket could potentially do an okay job, to be honest. Meowth 2024?) You can 100% have intense, long discussions about fictional characters, but it’s never worth genuinely harming your own mental health or attacking someone else because of an opinion that ultimately doesn’t hurt anyone. It’s okay to agree to disagree.
Lastly, remember that a lot of this is not intuitive. Your ABILITY to make smart decisions online is a skill that takes time to develop (as is evidenced by 99% of past me’s Twitter posts) and it’s important to give yourself grace. As much as the internet hates to admit it, we all make mistakes. Just own up to those mistakes and move on. It’s okay to delete a post you made because you don’t agree with it anymore. It’s okay to come back to an argument and apologize for going too far. It’s okay to not be perfect. Accept the consequences of your own actions and move forward.
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Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun is an autistic fixation of mine. I don't play it often and I'm not very good at it, and it's not a very balanced game that, as I understand, was rushed to shit.
But two things:
GOD this game's aesthetic is fucking immaculate. there's something i seriously fell in love with about how this game sells the desolate, alien world that Earth has become in the story in its spritework, lighting and music. the look imho still holds up amazingly today even though it has goofy FMV, and i enjoy the FMV in its own right because of how unapologetically hammy it feels. it's something i think everyone should enjoy at least once. which leads perfectly into...
It's free. https://cnc-comm.com/tiberian-sun/downloads/the-game/installer
Tiberian Sun and its Firestorm expansion have been freeware since 2010 and is updated to be playable comfortably on modern PC firmware, including multiple different choices of renderer in case one doesn't work for you. it'll likely take a bit of finegling to get it to run well and not glitch out (for example, my pause menu likes to disappear when alt-tabbing, if i'm running DDrawCompat in windowed mode), but i think that it's worth it if you enjoy any kind of RTS.
this is by no means a perfect game, but i want to see people enjoy the game whose Vibes remain stuck in my brain like a foot-long rail spike.
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